A pilot acoustic study of Modern Persian vowels in colloquial speech

Abstract

Abstract. While the current literature on Modern Persian (MP) 1 shows heightened interest in its vowel inventory, a cogent synchronic account of Modern Persian vowels (MPV) has yet to be presented. Previous phonological descriptions of MPV presuppose a pairing system based on a historical length distinction that is still reflected in MP orthography: /i:, e/, /u:, o/, /ɒ:, ae/. A synchronic phonological analysis of MPV must be based on phonetic measurements; however, existing acoustic studies examine only formal speech, and thus do not reflect colloquial surface forms. Therefore, the goal of this investigation is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive acoustic study of MPV that presupposes no pairings and is based on colloquial speech in a controlled prosodic environment. Vowel duration and first and second formants were measured using Praat for 90 CVC(C) monosyllables as pronounced phrase-finally in carrier sentences by two Tehrani native speakers: one male, one female. Results show that average durations for each vowel contradicted the traditional length-based pairings. Furthermore, features of the following phonological environment likely to affect vowel length -postvocalic consonant type, coda complexity (CVC vs. CVCC), and adherence to the Sonority Sequencing Principle in complex codas -had no notable effect. Results of formant measurements show the two non-high back vowels to be higher than expected, whereas the high back vowel was noticeably centralized.

The vowel system of Qatari Arabic: Evidence for peripheral/non-peripheral distinction between long and short vowels

“…It is intriguing that the vowel pattern in Cluster 1 with maximal separation of /i u/ and fronting of /a/ is very similar to the pattern of the Modern Persian vowel system (Figure 3G), in which the non-low short vowels are lowered to mid vowels /e/ and /o/ and the low vowels have a [±back] contrast. Acoustic studies of Persian vowels (Aronow et al 2017, Mokari et al 2017, Hemmatnia et al 2019) report mean F1 values of Persian short vowels (/æ/: M = 800 Hz; /e/: M = 500 Hz; /o/: M = 550 Hz) that are very close to mean F1 values of short vowels found in the current study (/a/: M = 698 Hz; /i/: M = 535 Hz; /u/: M = 550 Hz). Diagrams of vowel spaces for individual speakers of Persian (Mokari et al 2017: 13) look very similar to diagrams for speakers of Qatari Arabic in the current study.…”

“…Other languages with tense/lax distinction in vowels, e.g. English or Persian, reveal smaller durational differences between the two vowels subsets, with the ratios between 0.72 and 0.82 (Peterson & Lehiste 1960, Hillenbrand et al 1995 for English; Aronow et al 2017, Mokari et al 2017, Hemmatnia et al 2019 for Persian). The differences in vowel duration might explain why vowel duration is a more salient feature in Arabic, but vowel quality is more salient in English or Persian.…”

“…As F1 is inversely related to vowel height and F2 is inversely related to vowel backness, studies that find qualitative differences between long and short vowels report higher F1/lower F2 values for front vowels, and higher F1/higher F2 values for back vowels when they move toward the center of the vowels space (e.g. Bukshaisha 1985, Alghamdi 1998, Saadah 2011, Almbark 2012, Kalaldeh 2018 for Arabic dialects; Hillenbrand et al 1995, Clopper, Pisoni & de Jong 2005, Labov et al 2005 for English; Aronow, McHugh & Molnar 2017, Mokari et al 2017, Hemmatnia, Ghazanfari & Nourbakhsh 2019 for Persian, among many others).…”

Underapplication Opacity Beyond the Non-Local Compensatory Lengthening in Modern Colloquial Persian

“…Table 1 shows 23 consonants in Modern Colloquial Persian, which are set on the basis of place and manner of articulation (Alqahtani, 2020; Hosseini, 2014; Mahootian, 1997; Windfuhr, 1987). Vowels in Modern Colloquial Persian are divided into three short vowels, /e, æ, o/, of the [–long] feature, and three long counterparts, /i, u, ɑ/, of the [+long] feature, as shown in Table 2 (Aronow et al, 2017; Kambuziya et al, 2017; Miller, 2013).…”

A sociophonetic analysis of Farsi vowel systems among heritage speakers and immigrants of Persian ethnicity in Oklahoma

“…Several studies have focused on the acoustic features of vowels -first and second formants -in Farsi (Ansarin 2004;Aronow et al 2017;Esfandiari et al 2015;Ghaffarvand Mokari et al 2017;Mohammadi et al 2011). Ghaffarvand Mokari et al (2017) reported the F0, F1, F2, and F3 and the duration of the Farsi vowels of 28 male and 25 female Farsi monolinguals with Tehrani dialect.…”