Vowel Reduction in Kermani Accent

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to explore the process of vowel reduction in Kermani accent. The process of vowel reduction occurs in unstressed syllables which shifts vowels toward other vowels. In this study, 5 male and 5 female native speakers of Kermani accent, pronounced 24 words in 3 repetitions containing six simple vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables. The participants’ productions were recorded using Shure microphone and were analyzed using Praat software (Ver. 5.2.24). A text grid was made for each word. Then, duration, F1, F2 and F0 of vowels were measured and compared in stressed and unstressed syllables. Overall, the obtained results confirmed that the duration and F0 of vowels decreases in unstressed syllables and the amount of F1 of all the vowels and the F2 of the vowels [ɑ, e, o, u] have a tendency towards the F1 and F2 of /ǝ/. Results also indicated that the process of vowel reduction is centripetal in Kermani accent.

Keywords

• Duration; Stressed and unstressed syllables; Text grid; Vowel reduction