Vowel Reduction in Kermanian Accent

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is investigating vowel reduction in Kermanian accent. Vowel reduction is a process which occurs in an unstressed syllable. It leads to change unstressed vowels and tend them to other vowels. In order to investigate vowel reduction in Kermanian accent, 6 male native speakers of Persian are participating which 3 of them are native speakers of Kerman and 3 others, speakers of standard Persian accent. The data included 12 words were recorded by a Shure microphone in the acoustic room of the linguistic department of Sharif University of Technology. Then duration, intensity, F1, F2, COG and f0 of the vowels were measured. The results show that duration, intensity and fundamental frequency of the vowels are less in Kermanian accent than in standard Persian accent. Also, the results of studying F1 and F2 of [æ, i, o] prove that these vowels in Kermanian accent are tending to center. So, this kind of vowel reduction in Kermanian accent is called centripetal

Phonetic realization of focus in Persian

The present study investigates how focus is phonetically realized in declarative and interrogative sentences in Persian. Focus is usually interpreted as contrastive focus in this language. That is, the contrasted element is chosen out of a closed set of entities and bears heavy stress. In this study, 12 native speakers of Persian recorded short declarative and interrogative sentences including Clitic Group and Phonological Word in neutral and focal conditions. The results show small acoustic differences in duration, intensity and spectral information between initial and final accented target words in neutral and focus conditions in Persian, by the side of substantial differences in f0

Un estudio del corpus de medidas de duración rítmica del dialecto Kalhori del Kurdo

In order to identify between-sentence and between-speaker variabilities, one of the methods used by phoneticians is studying durational rhythmic features. In the present research, to classify speech rhythm of Kalhori, a variety of Kurdish, and to find out about the most appropriate measures for between-sentence and between-speaker rhythmic variability in Kalhori, durational speech rhythmic measures were analyzed. To this end, two speaking styles (read and spontaneous) were explored. The analysis of the read corpus revealed that Kalhori Kurdish rhythm pattern is between stress-timed and syllable-timed. The results indicated that %V (proportion over which speech is vocalic) was the most significant measure for distinguishing between-sentence rhythmic variability in the read corpus, while %V and rateSyl (syllable rate) were the most efficient measures for identifying the between-speaker rhythmic variability in both the read and spontaneous corpus.Uno de los métodos empleados en fonética para identificar la variabilidad entre oraciones y hablantes es el estudio de las características rítmicas. En este estudio, se han analizado algunas métricas temporales de ritmo en kalhori (una variedad del kurdo) para descubrir las que mejor explican la variabilidad rítmica entre oraciones y entre hablantes. Con este fin, se han utilizado dos estilos de habla: lectura y habla espontánea. El análisis del corpus de lectura demostró que el tipo de ritmo del kurdo kalhori se puede situar en el medio del continuo entre lenguas de ritmo acentual y lenguas de ritmo silábico. Los resultados indican que la métrica más adecuada para explicar la variabilidad rítmica entre oraciones en el corpus leído fue %V (proporción de vocales sobre el total de habla), mientras que %V y rateSyl (número de sílabas pronunciadas por minuto) fueron las métricas más eficientes para identificar la variabilidad rítmica entre hablantes, tanto en el corpus leído como en el espontáneo

The effect of age and sex on the acoustic characteristics of speech

This research aims to investigate the effects of age and sex on some acoustic features of speech sounds including fundamental frequency (F0), formants (F1 and F2), intensity and duration. To do this, twenty four Persian-speaking participants (12 male and 12 female) were asked to utter 36 CVC isolated words. Syllables consisted of six Persian plosives /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/ and /g/ and six vowels /æ/, /e/, /!/,/"/, /u/ and /#/; thus, every syllable had two similar plosives plus a vowel in between. Syllables were recorded in a sound-proof room using Praat Software. All acoustic properties were measured using spectrogram and oscillogram. Results showed that duration of vowels in teenagers was longer than that in adults; moreover, females had longer duration than males. Concerning formants, F1 of all vowels was more in children than in adults except for /o/. Intensity of men was more than that of women and F0 was less in middle-aged people than in young people and it was more in women than in men

Analysis of Vowel Spaces in Kermani and Standard Persian Accent

هدف از پژوهش حاضر بررسی و مقایسۀ فضاهای واکه‌ای در دو لهجۀ کرمانی و معیار است. به این منظور از ده گویشور کرمانی و ده گویشور لهجۀ معیار خواسته‌‌شد تا شش واکۀ زبان فارسی را سه مرتبه تکرارکنند. صدای گویشوران توسط میکروفون Shure ضبط‌شده و پس از آن توسط نرم‌افزارPRAAT مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرارگرفت. سپس با ایجاد یک شبکۀ متنی، مقادیر بسامد سازه‌های اوّل و دوم آن اندازه‌گیری‌شد و با بررسی آمار توصیفی و تحلیلی به‌دست‌آمده، به مقایسۀ فضاهای واکه‌ای این دو لهجه پرداخته‌شد. نتایج به‌دست‌آمده از این قرار است: با توجه به اینکه مقادیر بسامد سازه‌های اوّل و دوم واکه‌های [ɑ] و [u] در لهجۀ کرمانی بیشتر از مقادیر آن‌ها در فارسی معیار است می‌توان چنین نتیجه‌گیری کرد که در لهجۀ کرمانی این واکه‌ها افتاده‌تر از فارسی معیار هستند و در جایگاهی پیشین‌تر تولید ‌می‌شوند. همچنین در لهجۀ کرمانی واکه‌های [i,e,o,æ]، نسبت به لهجۀ فارسی معیار، دارای بسامد سازۀ اوّل بالاتر و بسامد سازۀ دوم کمتری می‌باشند. این مسئله موجب‌ می‌شود که واکه‌های مذکور در لهجۀ کرمانی افتاده‌تر باشند و در جایگاه پسین‌تری نسبت به واکه‌های معیار تولید‌‌شوند

Vowel Reduction in Kermani Accent

The purpose of the present study is to explore the process of vowel reduction in Kermani accent. The process of vowel reduction occurs in unstressed syllables which shifts vowels toward other vowels. In this study, 5 male and 5 female native speakers of Kermani accent, pronounced 24 words in 3 repetitions containing six simple vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables. The participants’ productions were recorded using Shure microphone and were analyzed using Praat software (Ver. 5.2.24). A text grid was made for each word. Then, duration, F1, F2 and F0 of vowels were measured and compared in stressed and unstressed syllables. Overall, the obtained results confirmed that the duration and F0 of vowels decreases in unstressed syllables and the amount of F1 of all the vowels and the F2 of the vowels [ɑ, e, o, u] have a tendency towards the F1 and F2 of /ǝ/. Results also indicated that the process of vowel reduction is centripetal in Kermani accent

Phonetic Neutralization: The Case of Persian Final Devoicing Phonetic Neutralization: The Case of Persian Final Devoicing

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the degree of word-final devoicing in Persian (Farsi). 9 word pairs were chosen with each word consisting of one syllable. Each word has the structure CVC, and in every pair only the phoneme for final C changes in underlying voicing and the initial CV remains unchanged. Pairs were chosen in a way to include all Persian voiced and voiceless plosives: /p , b/, /t , d/ , /k , g/, and also all three Persian long vowels: / i: / , / u: / , / ɑ: /. Words were pronounced by 4 Persian native speakers, 2 males and 2 females, and were recorded using Praat software. Acoustic analysis focused on different measures, like: F0, F1, F2, F3, COG, VOT and duration. Results showed the absence of complete neutralization of underlying voice in this environment in Persian

Vowel Space in Children with Repaired Cleft Lip and Palate Compared to Normal Peers

Cleft lip and palate is an innate malformation in a person’s palate and upper lip which causes disorder in vocal tract. The present article aims to study vowel space in children with repaired cleft lip and palate and compare it to their normal peers with disability and voice as factors. So, Persian vowels were studied in CVC framed words. These words were produced by 12 participants, 6 children with repaired cleft lip and palate and 6 normal children, and were recorded using PRAAT software. Then, first and second formants were measured and after that the data was analyzed statistically. The results revealed that the effect of disability on first formant of vowels [æ, e, u], and second formant of vowels [æ, ɒ, o, u] is significantly different. The results also showed that the effect of voice on first formant of vowels [æ, e] is significantly different. Moreover, it was proved that the vowel space in children with cleft lip and palate is in lower place and near to the lips comparing to the vowel space in children with normal vocal tracts and vowel space in voiced context is different from voiceless context

The Persian pitch accent and its retention after the focus

Abstract Persian words have prominence on the last syllable. Right-edge clitics fall outside this word domain, and segmentally identical words and word-plus-clitic combinations therefore contrast for the location of the prominence. Two experiments were conducted to answer two questions. A production experiment addressed the question whether any phonetic cues other than f0 signal this prominence contrast. We found small phonetic differences between members of minimal pairs outside the more evident f0 differences, but attribute these to side effects of pitch accent placement. The second question was whether post-focal words undergo deaccentuation, as evidenced by neutralization of the contrast between post-focal words and word-plus-clitic combinations. Both the production experiment and a perception experiment showed that there is Post Focus Compression, since pitch excursions in the post-focal speech were considerably reduced, both in interrogative and in declarative utterances, as compared to other positions in the sentence. However, no neutralization occurred. We tentatively conclude that Persian word prominences are pitch accents and that words are not deaccented when the pitch range is reduced after the focus