Open AccessA pilot acoustic study of Modern Persian vowels in colloquial speech
Author(s) -
Robin Aronow,
Brian D. McHugh,
Tessa Molnar
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
proceedings of the linguistic society of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2473-8689
DOI - 10.3765/plsa.v2i0.4059
Subject(s) - vowel , linguistics , formant , coda , sonority hierarchy , persian , consonant , orthography , speech recognition , psychology , computer science , acoustics , philosophy , reading (process) , physics
While the current literature on Modern Persian (MP) shows heightened interest in its vowel inventory, a cogent synchronic account of Modern Persian vowels (MPV) has yet to be presented. Previous phonological descriptions of MPV presuppose a pairing system based on a historical length distinction that is still reflected in MP orthography: /i:, e/, /u:, o/, /ɒ:, æ/. A synchronic phonological analysis of MPV must be based on phonetic measurements; however, existing acoustic studies examine only formal speech, and thus do not reflect colloquial surface forms. Therefore, the goal of this investigation is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive acoustic study of MPV that presupposes no pairings and is based on colloquial speech in a controlled prosodic environment. Vowel duration and first and second formants were measured using Praat for 90 CVC(C) monosyllables as pronounced phrase-finally in carrier sentences by two Tehrani native speakers: one male, one female. Results show that average durations for each vowel contradicted the traditional length-based pairings. Furthermore, features of the following phonological environment likely to affect vowel length — postvocalic consonant type, coda complexity (CVC vs. CVCC), and adherence to the Sonority Sequencing Principle in complex codas — had no notable effect. Results of formant measurements show the two non-high back vowels to be higher than expected, whereas the high back vowel was noticeably centralized.