Phonological and acoustic properties of ATR in the vowel system of Akebu (Kwa)

Abstract

This study examines phonological and phonetic properties of ATR contrasts in the vowel system of Akebu (Kwa). The sum of descriptive evidence, including vowel harmony, vowel distribution in non-harmonising contexts, vowel reduction and typological and etymological considerations, indicates a rare vowel inventory with an ATR contrast in front/back vowels but a height contrast in the three redundantly [ $-$ ATR] central vowels /ᵻ, ə, a/. This analysis was checked against four common acoustic metrics of ATR: F1 and F2 frequencies, spectral slope and F1 bandwidth size (B1). As expected, the results for the last three metrics were variable across speakers and vowel types, and are therefore inconclusive. The results for F1 were consistent but do not distinguish between ATR and vowel height. Two results nonetheless suggest the [ $-$ ATR] status of central vowels: they occupy the same belt of F1 frequencies and show the same position of observed-over-predicted B1 values as front and back [ $-$ ATR] vowels.