Acoustic Analysis Of Lasi Accented English Vowels: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study investigates the acoustic variations of Lasi accented English vowels produced by native Lasi speakers in terms of their formant frequency, duration and vowel quality. In this regard, speech samples were collected from fifty nonnative English speakers whose native language is Lasi (a dialect of Lasi). Ten participants were selected from high-middle class, aged between 10-15 years. Speech samples adopted from (Wells, 1962) were made in CVC context with (hVd) pattern by embedding vowels in an isolated word and in a carrier sentence. A Del laptop was used for recording the data through PRAAT-2016 speech processing software with set sampling frequency 16000 Hz recoding response with conference mic having 16000 Hz input frequency response in blare and echo free environment. Vowel formant frequencies (F1, F2), and duration by using PRAAT were measured to extract typical spectrograms and formant tracks. The deduced data were used to create comparison charts formant frequencies and durational ones along with dialectical vowel inventories with comparison to their peripheral counterparts. Analysis showed that almost all English vowels show variation in terms of height of tongue and its forwarded and retrieved position. Acoustic analysis shows that vowels /כ:// æ/ and /ʌ/are unintelligible in terms of height of tongue whereas in terms of backness of tongue, these vowels /ɒ/, /כ:/, /u:/ and /ɜː/are unintelligible as native British English listeners.