Date: 10-Aug-2009
From: Roy Becker-Kristal <roybecker humnet.ucla.edu>
Subject: Acoustic Studies of Vowel Inventories
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As part of my dissertation research on vowel inventory dispersion, I am
compiling a database of acoustic descriptions of vowel inventories (oral
monophthongs as pronounced by male speakers). This database would enable
quantitative research on dispersion related questions, such as the size of
the acoustic space (or its individual dimensions) as a function of the
number of vowels (or of degrees of contrast), or spacial position of
non-peripheral vowels. It would also be useful for many other research
questions about vowel acoustics.
Based on studies I found so far, the database currently contains data from
about 120 languages, which are listed at the end of this message (for many
of these languages there are data from multiple dialects and/or elicitation
methods).
I am aware of a few other such studies that at present I am unable to
access, and I am confident that there are many other studies that I am
unaware of (e.g. studies published in local journals, written in languages
that I don't know).
If you are familiar with any acoustic study of the vowel inventory of any
language/dialect, including languages mentioned below (except for studies
published in major phonetic journals like Journal of phonetics, JASA etc.),
I am kindly asking you to contact me by email and send me its reference (or
a copy of the study itself). Unpublished studies are also welcome (if sent
by the author). I will do my best to 'decipher' papers in languages that I
don't know, but I might need occasional help with extracting some relevant
details from such studies.
I will try to respond to anybody contacting me with a reference. If I don't
respond, please assume that I already have the study.
Thank you,
Roy Becker-Kristal
roybeckerhumnet.ucla.edu
Following are the languages already included in the database:
Akan, Albanian, Aleut, Amis, Angami, Apache, Arabic (several dialects),
Banawa, Bavarian, Bejond, Bininj Gun-Wok, Bora, Brou, Bulgarian, Burarra,
Cantonese, Catalan, Chickasaw, Chontal, Chuvash, Creek, Dalabon, Danish,
Defaka, Degema, Dholuo, Dutch (many dialects), Emilian, English (many
dialects and subdialects), Estonian (various dialects), Finnish, French,
Frisian (several dialects), German (several dialects), Greek, Greenlandic,
Gujarati, Hadza, Hakka, Hausa, Hebrew, Hungarian, Hupa, Iaai, Icelandic,
Igbo, Inner Mongolian (various dialects), Italian (many dialects), Jalapa
Mazatec, Japanese (various dialects), Kaba, Kannada, Khalkha, Khana, Khmer,
Korean (various dialects), Kunwinjku, Kuruaya, Kuy, Livonian, Low German,
Maa, Madurese, Maithili, Maltese, Mandarin, Mangbetu, Maori, Mbay, Min
Taiwanese, Montana Salish, Moore, Nambikwara, Nar, Ndumbea, Ndut, Ngwe,
Northern Khmer, Northern Qiang, Norwegian, Occitan, Oriat, Paici, Paraok,
Pima O'odham, Polish, Portuguese (various dialects), Punjabi, Quechua,
Quichua, Romanian, Russian, Sakubariat, Sar, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic,
Sele, Serbo-Croatian, Shona, Sicilian, Slovenian, Solon, Sotho, Spanish
(many dialects), Swedish, Tausug, Thai, Toda, Truku, Tsez, Tsou, Turkish,
Twi, Udmurt, Viri, Wari', Welsh, Wolof, Yalalag Zapotec, Yoruba.
Linguistic Field(s):
Language Documentation
Phonetics
Phonology
Typology
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