CS 551/651:Structure of Spoken Language

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

John-Paul HosomFall 2010

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 2

Vowels

12 English vowels (not all are phonemic), 8 or 9 phonemic vowels:

/iy/ beet (front, high, unrounded, tense)/ih/ bit (front, high, unrounded, lax)/eh/ bet (front, mid, unrounded, lax)/ae/ bat (front, low, unrounded, lax)

/ix/* roses (back, high, unrounded, lax) (subst. /ih/)/ux/* suit (back, high, rounded, lax) (subst.

/uw/)/ax/ * above (back/central, mid, unrounded, lax)

(subst. /ah/)

/uw/ boot (back, high, rounded, tense)/uh/ book (back, high, rounded, lax)/ah/ above (back/central, mid, unrounded, lax)/ao/ caught (back, low, rounded, tense)

(subst. /aa/)/aa/ father (back, low, unrounded, tense)

* these vowels are more centralized and shorter in duration

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 3

Vowels

5 or 6 English diphthongs:

/ey/ bay (front, midhigh, unrounded, tense)/ay/ bye (backfront, lowhigh, unrounded, tense)/oy/ boy (backfront, midhigh, roundedunrounded,

tense)/aw/ about (back, midhigh, unroundedrounded, tense)/ow/ boat (back, mid, unroundedrounded, tense)/yu/ beauty (frontback, high, unroundedrounded, tense)

All diphthongs start or end with a /w/ or /y/ sound. (If /w/, it’s at the end of the diphthong.)

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 4

Vowels

Vowel formant frequencies (averages for English, males only):

280

2250

2890

400

1920

2560

550

1770

2490

690

1660

2490

600

1200

2400

710

1100

2540

450

1030

2380

310

870

2250

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

iy ih eh ae ah aa uh uw

*from Ladefoged, p. 193

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 5

Diphthongs

Diphthongs have characteristic formant movements:

/ay/

/aw/

/ow/

/oy/

/yu/

/ei/

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 6

Spectrogram Reading: Techniques

Most vowels can be identified by answering four questions:

1. Is the vowel front or back?Front vowels have F2 closer to F3 than to F1If F1, F2, F3 equally spaced, then probably /ae/ = front vowel.

2. Is the vowel high or low?High vowels have low F1, low vowels have high F1“high” and “low” F1 values are relative, sometimes difficult

3. Is the vowel tense or lax?Tense vowels have more extreme formantsTense vowels are longer in duration

4. Is the vowel a monophthong (“pure vowel”) or diphthong?Diphthongs are characterized by formant movement.Some diphthongs (/ei/, /ow/) easily confused with monophthongsDiphthongs are longer than monophthongs.

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 7

Spectrogram Reading: Techniques

Front vowels: iy ih eh aeBack vowels: uw uh ah aa

High vowels: iy ih uh uwLow vowels: ae eh ah aa

Tense vowels: iy ae uw aaLax vowels: ih eh uh ah

Monophthongs: iy ih eh ae uw uh ah aaDiphthongs: ei aU aI oI oU yu

(?)

same in height, tenseness

same in frontness, tenseness

same in frontness, height

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 8

Spectrogram Reading: Techniques

We can graph the vowel relationships along the F1/F2 axis:

F1

F2

iy

ih

uhuw

aaah

eh ae

laxtense

front

back

high low

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 9

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 10

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 11

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 12

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 13

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 14

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 15

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 16

Spectrogram Reading: Vowels

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 17

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 18

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 19

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 20

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 21

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs

Structure of Spoken Language : Hosom 22

Spectrogram Reading: Diphthongs