Shared Vowels in English Loanwords in Arabic: Variation in Similarity-Based Adaptation

This paper investigates vowel adaptation in English-based loanwords by a group of Saudi Arabic speakers, concentrating exclusively on shared vowels between the two languages. It examines 5 long vowels shared by the two vowel systems in terms of vowel quality and vowel duration in loanword productions by 22 participants and checks them against the properties of the same vowels in native words. To this end, the study performs an acoustic analysis of 660 tokens (loan and native vowel sounds) through Praat to measure the first two formants (F1: vowel height and F2: vowel advancement) of each vowel sound at two temporal points of time (T1: the vowel onset and T2: the peak of the vowel) as well as a durational analysis to examine vowel length. It reports that measurements of the first two formants of vowels in native words appear to be stable during the two temporal points while values of the same vowel sounds occurring in loanwords are fluctuating from T1 to T2 and that durational differences exist between loanword vowels in comparison with vowels of native words in such a way that vowels in native words are longer in duration than the same vowels appearing in loanwords.

L1 phonological effects on L2 (non-)naïve perception: A cross-language investigation of the oral–nasal vowel contrast in Brazilian Portuguese

Feature-based approaches to acquisition principally focus on second language (L2) learners’ ability to perceive non-native consonants when the features required are either contrastively present or entirely absent from the first language (L1) grammar. As features may function contrastively or allophonically in the consonant and/or vowel systems of a language, we expand the scope of this research to address whether features that function contrastively in the L1 vowel system can be recombined to yield new vowels in the L2; whether features that play a contrastive role in the L1 consonant system can be reassigned to build new vowels in the L2; and whether L1 allophonic features can be ‘elevated’ to contrastive status in the L2. We examine perception of the oral–nasal contrast in Brazilian Portuguese listeners from French, English, Caribbean Spanish, and non-Caribbean Spanish backgrounds, languages that differ in the status assigned to [nasal] in their vowel systems. An AXB discrimination task revealed that, although all language groups succeeded in perceiving the non-naïve contrast /e/–/ẽ/ due to their previous exposure to Québec French while living in Montréal, Canada, only French and Caribbean Spanish speakers succeeded in discriminating the naïve contrast /i/–/ĩ/. These findings suggest that feature redeployment at first exposure is only possible if the feature is contrastive in the L1 vowel system (French) or if the feature is allophonic but variably occurs in contrastive contexts in the L1 vowel system (Caribbean Spanish). With more exposure to a non-native contrast, however, feature redeployment from consonant to vowel systems was also supported, as was the possibility that allophonic features may be elevated to contrastive status in the L2.

Vowel systems of the Chibchan languages

This paper presents the phonological vowel systems of 16 Chibchan languages, according to existing descriptions. Its purpose is to provide a basic and systematic overview of the vowel systems found in this family. For each language, the distinctive features needed to distinguish the vowel phonemes are discussed, as well as their phonetic realizations when this is relevant. Whereas the phoneme classification is uncontroversial for many of the languages, there are also some Chibchan languages that have been subject to very different analyses over the years; in these cases, a more thorough discussion is provided. At the end of the paper, the Chibchan vowel systems are compared from a quantitative perspective.

Vowel development in young Mandarin-English bilingual children

This study examined the development of vowel categories in young Mandarin -English bilingual children. The participants included 35 children aged between 3 and 4 years old (15 Mandarin-English bilinguals, six English monolinguals, and 14 Mandarin monolinguals). The bilingual children were divided into two groups: one group had a shorter duration (<1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-low group) and one group had a longer duration (>1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-high group). The participants were recorded producing one list of Mandarin words containing the vowels /a, i, u, y, ɤ/ and/or one list of English words containing the vowels /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, u, ʊ, o, ɑ, ʌ/. Formant frequency values were extracted at five equidistant time locations (the 20–35–50–65–80% point) over the course of vowel duration. Cross-language and within-language comparisons were conducted on the midpoint formant values and formant trajectories. The results showed that children in the Bi-low group produced their English vowels into clusters and showed positional deviations from the monolingual targets. However, they maintained the phonetic features of their native vowel sounds well and mainly used an assimilatory process to organize the vowel systems. Children in the Bi-high group separated their English vowels well. They used both assimilatory and dissimilatory processes to construct and refine the two vowel systems. These bilingual children approximated monolingual English children to a better extent than the children in the Bi-low group. However, when compared to the monolingual peers, they demonstrated observable deviations in both L1 and L2.

Distinctive vowel heights in Limburgish and Bavarian

Standard works on linguistics give Amstetten Bavarian (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996) and Weert Limburgish (Ladefoged 2007) as examples of languages with four or five distinctive vowel heights. Other Limburgish and East Central Bavarian dialects are also described with four or five heights. If the reports are correct, these vowel systems have significant typological importance. They would invalidate the neutral vowel theory which proposes that no language will have more than three distinctive heights or depths on any vocalic plane (Hitch 2017). It is proposed that semi-diphthongality and laxness are distinctive features in Limburgish which permit analyses of three distinctive heights. Similarly, it is proposed that laxness is distinctive in the relevant Bavarian dialects and that they have three distinctive heights.

Preferences and Attitude toward English Phonetics Learning: The perspectives of Indonesian EFL Learners

English learners should aware of English sounds, more specifically English phoneme, to comprehending the English language accurately. In order to completing the goal this research aimed to find out students’ preferences and attitude of English Education Program in Universitas Brawijaya. This was a descriptive quantitative research by using a survey design. The participants of this study were 103 (a hundred and three) students of batch 2015 to 2017 in English Language Education Program. The researcher used adopted questionnaire which consist of 8 items preferred themes and 19 statements of attitude in phonetic as the instrument by Lintunen and Makilahde (2013). This research was analyzed using SPSS program. The result of this study revealed student’s preference and attitudes toward phonetics learning. The most preferred topic chosen by the participants are the vowel systems (28.20%), speech rhythm and accent difference (27.20%), and intonation analysis (26.20%). The students performed a positive attitude toward English phonetic learning that can improve their skill in English especially in their pronunciation (98.1%). It is concluded that the students thought English Phonetics is important to increase their knowledge and their skill in learning English. The researcher suggested for future researcher, they can conduct the research by considering the correlation between pronunciation in English phonetics and speaking skill in English language.

Vowel system or vowel systems?

The Manila variety of Philippine Hybrid Hokkien (PHH-M) or Lánnang-uè is a contact language used by the metropolitan Manila Chinese Filipinos; it is primarily comprised of Hokkien, Tagalog/Filipino, and English elements. Approaching PHH-M as a mixed language, we investigate linguistically and socially conditioned variation in the monophthongs of PHH-M, focusing on the extent to which the vowel systems of the three source languages have converged. This analysis draws on data gathered from 34 native speakers; Pillai scores are calculated to assess the degree of merger. Contrary to certain predictions of prior work on mixed languages, PHH-M is found to have a unified, eight-vowel inventory distinct from any of its sources. Older women use more stable vowels across source languages, suggesting that they have led in the development of PHH-M as a mixed code; however, signs of change among younger women suggest either the endangerment of the code or its evolution in response to the community’s shifting identity. We contextualize our conclusions in relation to the sociohistory and language ecology of metropolitan Manila’s Chinese Filipino community.

A comparative approach to the vowel systems and harmonies in the Transeurasian languages and beyond

In this chapter the standard treatments of the Transeurasian vowel correspondences are reviewed, including their reconstructions of hypothetical proto-inventories, for the purpose of establishing a description of the Transeurasian vowel inventory and vowel harmony type. The review commences with a comparison of two major types of vowel-harmony systems in the Transeurasian languages, i.e. the palatal vs. the tongue-root harmony systems, and presents phonetic, phonological, and comparative evidence for a tongue-root harmony analysis of Korean, Mongolic, and Tungusic. Interpretations of the main Transeurasian reconstructions are then proposed, such as Ramstedt (1952–66) and Poppe (1960b) according to tongue-root harmony analysis as opposed to the conventional palatal harmony analysis. After this, there is an effort to situate the Transeurasian vowel inventory in its typological and geographical neighborhood, including Northeast Asian languages and beyond, and in its linguistic geographical setting.

Areal patterns in the vowel systems of the Macro-Sudan Belt

This paper investigates the areal distribution of vowel systems in the Macro-Sudan Belt, an area encompassing most of the western and central parts of northern Sub-Saharan Africa. We report on a survey of 681 language varieties with entries coded for two phonological features: advanced tongue root (ATR) harmony and the presence of interior vowels (i.e. non-peripheral vowels [ɨ ɯ ɜ ə ʌ … ]). Our results show that the presence of ATR harmony in the Macro-Sudan Belt is limited to three geographically unconnected zones: an Atlantic zone, a West African zone, and an East African zone. Between the West and East African ATR Zones is a genetically heterogeneous region where ATR harmony is systematically absent: we term this the Central African ATR-deficient zone. Our results show that in this same Central African zone, phonemic and allophonic interior vowels are disproportionately prevalent. Based on this distribution, we highlight two issues. First, ATR and interiority have an antagonistic relationship and do not commonly co-occur within vowel systems; this finding is supported through statistical tests. Second, our survey supports the existence of the Macro-Sudan Belt, but the discontinuous distribution of ATR harmony and its systematic absence in Central Africa challenges the proposal that this area represents the ‘hotbed’ of the Macro-Sudan Belt.

A sociophonetic analysis of Farsi vowel systems among heritage speakers and immigrants of Persian ethnicity in Oklahoma

This study investigates the variation of the Farsi vowel formants – F1 and F2 – among Persian-American heritage and immigrant speakers in Oklahoma, a topic which has been under-investigated. The participants were a group of 20 Persian adult immigrants (ten males and ten females) and 20 US-born Persian-American heritage speakers of Farsi (ten males and ten females). Data were gathered in the form of acoustic audio recordings of a 150-word word list carefully pronounced by the participants. A lexicon was created for the purpose of forced alignment, and vowel formants were extracted using DARLA. The vowel plots showed substantial similarity among all participants to the Farsi monolingual speakers’ in Iran regarding the back vowels /u/, /o/ and /ɒ/. However, the front /i/ and /e/ sounds were a bit more back than that of the monolinguals. In regard to /æ/, both groups of female Persian immigrants and female Persian heritage speakers showed similarity to that of the monolinguals; however, male Persian immigrants and male Persian heritage speakers had a relatively raised /æ/.