The 'vowel dispersion theory' states that the acoustic structure of the vowel inventory in a language can be explained by optimizing the acoustic inter-vowel contrast, under the constraint of articulatory conditions. In this paper, the primacy of the acoustic principles of contrast and effort is questioned by considering the possible effect of the lexicon on vowel dispersion. As an extreme poin...

This study investigates the vowel space of trilingual speakers of Saterland Frisian, Low German, and High German. The three vowel systems show differences in the number of distinct categories but share the majority of vowel qualities. The speakers were instructed to read vowels of all three languages in a /hVt/ frame. We examine whether the dispersion and size of the vowel space as well as inte...

English spelling is highly inconsistent in terms of simple sound-to-spelling correspondences but is more consistent when context is taken into account. For example, the choice between ch and tch is determined by the preceding vowel (coach, roach vs. catch, hatch). We investigated children's sensitivity to vowel context when spelling consonants in monosyllabic nonwords. Second graders (7-year-ol...

We analyze a simplified probability model that assumes normality and homoscedasticity of vowel parameters’ distributions. We arrive at explicit formulae that describe functional relationship between a natural Euclidean distance function in the model and the confusability of vowel categories. We propose a solution to address a common case when confusability of a pair of vowel categories is very ...

This study examined spectral properties of the Hungarian vowel pair /i/ vs. /i:/ with contrasting phonemic vowel lengths in 2;0 and 4;0 years old boys acquiring Hungarian as their native language. Results were obtained by an automated pitchsynchronous bandfilter analysis method that estimates the spectral envelope representation of vowels. Subsequent data reduction was achieved via principal co...

This paper presents a method for segregating and recognizing concurrent vowels based on the amplitude modulation spectrum. Vowel segregation is accomplished by F0guided grouping of harmonic components encoded in the amplitude modulation spectrum while vowel recognition is achieved by classifying the segregated vowel spectrum. Main features of the method are (1) the reassigned technique is emplo...

In the first phase of this paper, we describe the construction of a Bangla speech synthesizer. In the second phase, we discuss our work on Bangla nasal vowel. Nasality is one of the distinctive characteristic of Bangla phonemes. We discuss methods employed for transforming Bangla oral vowel to the corresponding nasal vowel counterpart and its application to our speech synthesizer. The perceptua...

The present paper deals with the problem of quality and quantity change (reduction) of unstressed vowels in Russian depending on their position relative to the stressed syllable and to the word boundaries. Quality change is measured by calculating the probability of vowel omission or replacement by another vowel phoneme. The study is based on a large corpus of read speech (over 30 hours). The r...

This study explores the role of different speakers’ L1 vowel compactness on their L2 vowel production efficiency. It is found in study [4] that Spanish speakers who have more compact L1 vowel space can perform better than those “dispersed” speakers in the distinction and production of French vowels, including both the L2 “assimilated” vowel-contrasts, ones similar to the L1 vowel categories, an...

Japanese is a language that has contrasts between single and geminate consonants. This phonological contrast is claimed to affect the duration of the neighboring vowel so that the preceding vowel is phonetically longer before geminates. The present study examines the difference in articulatory manifestations between single and geminate consonants and their relation to the duration of the preced...