TY - JOUR
T1 - Uncovering the acoustic vowel space of a previously undescribed language: The vowels of Nambo
AU - Kashima, Eri
AU - Williams, Daniel
AU - Ellison, Timothy
AU - Schokkin, Dineke
AU - Escudero, Paola
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - This study presents the first acoustic description of the vowel space of a Papuan language-Nambo, spoken in southern Papua New Guinea-based on duration and first and second formant measurements from 19 adult male and female speakers across three age groups (young, middle-aged, senior). Phonemically, Nambo has six full vowels /i, e, ae, A, o, u/ and a reduced vowel tentatively labeled /(sic)/. Unlike the full vowels, the quality of /(sic)/showed great variation: seniors' and young females' realizations tended to be more open and retracted than those by young males, while middle-aged speakers' productions fell between these two variants. (C) 2016 Acoustical Society of America
AB - This study presents the first acoustic description of the vowel space of a Papuan language-Nambo, spoken in southern Papua New Guinea-based on duration and first and second formant measurements from 19 adult male and female speakers across three age groups (young, middle-aged, senior). Phonemically, Nambo has six full vowels /i, e, ae, A, o, u/ and a reduced vowel tentatively labeled /(sic)/. Unlike the full vowels, the quality of /(sic)/showed great variation: seniors' and young females' realizations tended to be more open and retracted than those by young males, while middle-aged speakers' productions fell between these two variants. (C) 2016 Acoustical Society of America
U2 - 10.1121/1.4954395
DO - 10.1121/1.4954395
M3 - Article
VL - 139
SP - 252
EP - 256
JO - The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
JF - The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
IS - 6
ER -