the university of chicago the phonology and ... - SIL International

measured the duration of the first vowel in these tokens. Measurement criteria were taken
from Peterson & Lehiste (1960). The results are shown in Table 8.6. The average
duration of a vowel with a contour tone was about 15 percent greater than the average
duration of a vowel with a level tone. A one-tailed t-test indicated that the difference was
significant (t = 1.955, p < .025).
Table 8.6: Comparison of the duration of long and short vowels in a word-initial syllable
(Speaker K)
Token Duration of long V (ms) Token Duration of short V (ms)
=(=J 191 =(F=( 140
=(=J 158 J5=(J5K 200
J5=(=J5 192 J5=(J5K 177
J5=(=J5 202 J5=(BK 160
J5==(= 218 J5=(BK 162
J5==(= 240 J5=(@= 190
J5=(@= 196
Mean 200 Mean 175
SD 25.5 SD 20.4
8.2.3 Vowel nasalization
In Chapter 2, I claim that vowels adjacent to a nasal consonant may be nasalized.
In this section, I provide acoustic evidence for this claim. The following results are based
on examination of 15 tokens containing nasal consonants.
The first step in determining the nasalization of vowels is to identify acoustic
correlates of such nasalization. Lieberman & Blumstein (1988: 223) note:
[T]he primary acoustic cue for vowel nasalization is a reduction in the spectral
prominence of the first formant. This is accomplished by either broadening the F1
peak (making it wider in bandwidth) or creating an additional spectral peak
nearby...
Compare Figure 8.37 (=>= =>= =>=) =>= with Figure 8.38 (== == ==). == In Figure 8.37, there is good
separation between F1 and F2, both before and after the stop, so that the two formants are
distinguishable from each other. In Figure 8.38, however, the separation between the two
formants is not clear, especially before the nasal consonant. This is likely due to the
163