Acoustic analysis of the Syrian Arabic vowel system

Rana Alhussein Almbark; Sam Hellmuth

Acoustic analysis of the Syrian Arabic vowel system

Language and Linguistic Science

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

Abstract

This paper describes the vowel system of Syrian Arabic (SA) as spoken in Damascus. We examine the acoustic correlates of SA short/long vowel contrasts, and investigate the status of mid vowels in SA. The goal is to expand on the auditory description of the SA vowel system performed by Cowell [8]. The full set of vowel categories proposed by Cowell were produced in a neutral /hVd/ context by fifteen SA speakers. Quantitative analysis of vowel duration and formant measurements confirms that the vowel system of Syrian Arabic includes the main /i(ː)/, /a(ː)/, and /u(ː)/ short/long vowel contrasts and supports the phonemic status of mid-long vowels /eː/ and /oː/. However, the phonemic status of the mid short vowels [e] and [o] and of schwa was not supported and they are analysed as allophonic variants of their high counterparts /i/ and /u/, respectively.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 2015
Event	18th International Congresses of Phonetic Sciences - Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: 10 Aug 2015 → 14 Aug 2015

Conference

Conference	18th International Congresses of Phonetic Sciences
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Glasgow
Period	10/08/15 → 14/08/15

Access to Document

ICPHS0612Final published version, 785 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2015/Papers/ICPHS0612.pdfLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Acoustic analysis of the Syrian Arabic vowel system",

abstract = "This paper describes the vowel system of Syrian Arabic (SA) as spoken in Damascus. We examine the acoustic correlates of SA short/long vowel contrasts, and investigate the status of mid vowels in SA. The goal is to expand on the auditory description of the SA vowel system performed by Cowell [8]. The full set of vowel categories proposed by Cowell were produced in a neutral /hVd/ context by fifteen SA speakers. Quantitative analysis of vowel duration and formant measurements confirms that the vowel system of Syrian Arabic includes the main /i(ː)/, /a(ː)/, and /u(ː)/ short/long vowel contrasts and supports the phonemic status of mid-long vowels /eː/ and /oː/. However, the phonemic status of the mid short vowels [e] and [o] and of schwa was not supported and they are analysed as allophonic variants of their high counterparts /i/ and /u/, respectively.",

author = "{Alhussein Almbark}, Rana and Sam Hellmuth",

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T1 - Acoustic analysis of the Syrian Arabic vowel system

AU - Alhussein Almbark, Rana

AU - Hellmuth, Sam

PY - 2015

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N2 - This paper describes the vowel system of Syrian Arabic (SA) as spoken in Damascus. We examine the acoustic correlates of SA short/long vowel contrasts, and investigate the status of mid vowels in SA. The goal is to expand on the auditory description of the SA vowel system performed by Cowell [8]. The full set of vowel categories proposed by Cowell were produced in a neutral /hVd/ context by fifteen SA speakers. Quantitative analysis of vowel duration and formant measurements confirms that the vowel system of Syrian Arabic includes the main /i(ː)/, /a(ː)/, and /u(ː)/ short/long vowel contrasts and supports the phonemic status of mid-long vowels /eː/ and /oː/. However, the phonemic status of the mid short vowels [e] and [o] and of schwa was not supported and they are analysed as allophonic variants of their high counterparts /i/ and /u/, respectively.

AB - This paper describes the vowel system of Syrian Arabic (SA) as spoken in Damascus. We examine the acoustic correlates of SA short/long vowel contrasts, and investigate the status of mid vowels in SA. The goal is to expand on the auditory description of the SA vowel system performed by Cowell [8]. The full set of vowel categories proposed by Cowell were produced in a neutral /hVd/ context by fifteen SA speakers. Quantitative analysis of vowel duration and formant measurements confirms that the vowel system of Syrian Arabic includes the main /i(ː)/, /a(ː)/, and /u(ː)/ short/long vowel contrasts and supports the phonemic status of mid-long vowels /eː/ and /oː/. However, the phonemic status of the mid short vowels [e] and [o] and of schwa was not supported and they are analysed as allophonic variants of their high counterparts /i/ and /u/, respectively.

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T2 - 18th International Congresses of Phonetic Sciences

Y2 - 10 August 2015 through 14 August 2015

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