An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai

Kimiko Tsukada

doi:10.1109/IALP.2009.25

An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai

Kimiko Tsukada^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Centre for Language Sciences (CLaS)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

113 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In our earlier perception study, we observed that familiarity with first language (L1) phonemic length contrasts in Japanese does not transfer optimally into an unknown language, Arabic. We hypothesized that this finding is related to cross-language differences in how vowel length contrasts are phonetically realized. The present study compares vowel length contrasts that are phonemic in three typologically unrelated languages, i.e., Standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai, in an attempt to understand the extent to which vowel length contrasts are similar or dissimilar in these languages. Acoustic measurements showed short and long categories were clearly differentiated in all three languages and the short-to-long ratio did not substantially differ across languages. This suggests that listeners attend to more than just acoustic vowel duration in making perceptual judgments on short vs. long vowels.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing
Subtitle of host publication	Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009
Place of Publication	Los Alamitos, CA
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	76-79
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Print)	9780769539041
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IALP.2009.25
Publication status	Published - 2009
Event	2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009 - Singapore, Singapore Duration: 7 Dec 2009 → 9 Dec 2009

Other

Other	2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009
Country/Territory	Singapore
City	Singapore
Period	7/12/09 → 9/12/09

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2009 IEEE. Reprinted from IALP 2009 : proceedings : 2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing : 7-9 December 2009 : Singapore, Singapore. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Macquarie Universityâ€™s products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.

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Cite this

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title = "An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai",

abstract = "In our earlier perception study, we observed that familiarity with first language (L1) phonemic length contrasts in Japanese does not transfer optimally into an unknown language, Arabic. We hypothesized that this finding is related to cross-language differences in how vowel length contrasts are phonetically realized. The present study compares vowel length contrasts that are phonemic in three typologically unrelated languages, i.e., Standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai, in an attempt to understand the extent to which vowel length contrasts are similar or dissimilar in these languages. Acoustic measurements showed short and long categories were clearly differentiated in all three languages and the short-to-long ratio did not substantially differ across languages. This suggests that listeners attend to more than just acoustic vowel duration in making perceptual judgments on short vs. long vowels.",

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note = "Copyright 2009 IEEE. Reprinted from IALP 2009 : proceedings : 2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing : 7-9 December 2009 : Singapore, Singapore. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Macquarie University{\^a}€{\texttrademark}s products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.; 2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009 ; Conference date: 07-12-2009 Through 09-12-2009",

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Tsukada, K 2009, An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai. in 2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009., 5380774, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 76-79, 2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009, Singapore, Singapore, 7/12/09. https://doi.org/10.1109/IALP.2009.25

An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai. / Tsukada, Kimiko.
2009 International Conference on Asian Language Processing: Recent Advances in Asian Language Processing, IALP 2009. Los Alamitos, CA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2009. p. 76-79 5380774.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

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An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in standard Arabic, Japanese and Thai

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