Vowels of Beryozovka Ewen: An Acoustic Phonetic Study

Authors

Kang Hijo, Chosun University
Yun Jiwon, SUNY Stony Brook
Seongyeon Ko, CUNY Queens CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

This study acoustically analyzes 13,540 vowel tokens of Beryozovka Ewen with the aid of automated post-transcriptional processing technique. The focus of the analysis is on the acoustic correlates of [RTR], which is the harmonic feature of the language. In addition to the first three formants, acoustic values representing spectral tilt such as H1−H2, H1−A2, and B1 are measured as potential acoustic cues of [RTR]. The results show that F1, F3, and B1 are the most reliable cues of the feature and that H1− H2 and H1−A2 are nearly reliable. These acoustic cues are also shown to interact with length and position. In general, the acoustic distance between [−RTR] and [+RTR] vowels are farther in long and word-initial vowels than in short and non-initial vowels, respectively. We claim that [RTR] is more appropriate for the harmonic feature of Ewen than [ATR], and that the greater perceptibility of word-initial vowels is understood as a means to facilitate the lexical access in a language with vowel harmony.

Comments

Originally published as: Kang, Hijo, Jiwon Yun & Seongyeon Ko. 2017. Vowels of Beryozovka Ewen: An acoustic phonetic study. Altai Hakpo 27. 1-23. The Altaic Society of Korea.