Acoustic analysis of Mandarin affricates

This work investigated the relationship between acoustic parameters and phonetic features for six Mandarin affricates. The acoustic parameters under study included normalized duration, normalized amplitude, spectral energy distribution, and F2 onset of the following vowel, while the phonetic features under study included place of articulation, state of aspiration, and identity of the following vowel. Repeatedmeasures ANOVAs showed that all six affricates were distinguishable from each other in terms of central of gravity or dispersion of spectrum. Discriminant analysis showed that a combination of all nine acoustic parameters resulted in 89.5% rate of recognition for six affricates. Factor analysis showed that the first five components contributed to 86.3% of the information for affricates. In conclusion, spectral energy distribution constitutes the major acoustic parameters for Mandarin affricates, contributing mainly to the place of articulation, while normalized duration/amplitude of frication contributes mainly to the state of aspiration.