An acoustic phonetic analysis of dip

This paper describes the acoustic phonetic properties of diphthongs in Ningbo Chinese. Data from 20 speakers indicate that (1) falling diphthongs have both onset and offset steady states while rising diphthongs only have steady states on the offset element; (2) both falling and rising diphthongs begin from an onset frequency area close to their target vowels, but only the normal-length rising diphthongs reach the offset target, and falling and short rising diphthongs stop at somewhere before reaching the target; (3) diphthongs can be well characterized by the F2 rate of change as far the falling diphthongs are concerned, whereas data lack consistency when rising diphthongs are also taken into account. Results show that the temporal organization within diphthongs, formant patterns, and formant rate of change all contribute to the characterization of Ningbo diphthongs.