In the Name of God i

In the Name of God i

Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman Faculty of Literature and Humanities Department of Foreign Languages Investigating Vowel Reduction in Kermanian Accent Prepared by: Maryam Abdolalizade Supervisor: Dr. Vahide Abolhasanizade Advisor: Dr. Shahram Raisi Sistani A Thesis Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Art in General Linguistics (M. A.) September 2013 ii

Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman Faculty of Literature and Humanities Department of Foreign Language Hereby, we recommended that this thesis submitted by Maryam Abdolalizade be accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Art in General Linguistics (M. A) Committee Members: Supervisor: Dr. Vahideh Abolhasani Zadeh Advisor: Dr. Shahram Raeisi Sistani Referee 1: Dr. Azadeh Sharifi Moghadam Referee 2: Dr. shima Qahari Faculty representative: Dr. Hosein Motahari Nejad Research and education deputy of literature and humanities faculty: Dr. Enayatollah Sharifpour iii

To my loving family iv

Acknowledgements First of all, I am immensely grateful to God who gave me untiring perseverance and unconditional support to go on even when the circumstances seemed impossible. I wish to acknowledge in particular the teaching and advice of Dr. Abolhasanizade, my thesis supervisor. I only regret that I have not had the opportunity to learn more from her during my years at this university. I also learned a lot from my thesis advisor, Dr. Raeesi Sistani. My sincere appreciation is extended to him who provided invaluable guidance through his helpful suggestions. I also owe a great deal to Dr. Eslami for all his help and Sharif University of Technology whose acoustic room of language department was provided for me. I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all my great professors and my dear classmates for their helpfulness, wise advice and inspiration. I am extremely grateful to my speakers that the thesis would not have been possible without the generous help of them. v

Finally, I would like to offer my heartfelt appreciation to my family, specially my parents, for their eternal love and unremitting support not only during my years of study but through my entire life, and my friends, have been a constant source of support of all kinds throughout the years. Thank you! vi

Abstract: The purpose of this study was investigating vowel reduction in Kermanian accent. Vowel reduction is a process which occurs in an unstressed syllable. It leads to unstressed vowels to change to other vowels. In order to investigate vowel reduction in Kermanian accent, 12 male native speakers of Persian were participating which 6 of them were native speakers of Kerman and 6 others, speakers of standard Persian accent. The data included 12 words which were read by speakers and were recorded by a Shure microphone in the acoustic room of the linguistic department of Sharif University of Technology. Then duration, intensity, F1, F2, COG and F0 of the vowels were measured. The results showed that duration, intensity and fundamental frequency of the vowels were less in Kermanian accent than in standard accent. Also, the results of studying F1 and F2 of [æ, i, o] proved that these vowels in Kermanian accent tended to center. So, this kind of vowel reduction in Kermanian accent is called centripetal. Keywords: Vowel reduction, Center of gravity, Centripetal, Kermanian accent, Standard accent vii

Table of Contents Dedication.....iv Acknowledgments......v Abstract........ vii List of tables.....xii List of figures.....xix List of abbreviations.......xxvi 1. Chapter one: Introduction 1.1. Introduction..........2 1.2. Overview.......2 1.3. Statement of the problem.....3 1.4. The objective of the study........6 1.5. The significant of the study......6 1.6. Theoretical framework.....7 1.7. Research questions...8 1.8. Hypotheses of the study...9 1.9. Definition of key words...9 viii

2. Chapter Two: The Review of Literature 2.1. Introduction 13 2.2. Approach I: Crosswhite (2000).13 2.3. Approach II: Harris (2005)... 14 2.4. Iranian studies....15 2.5. Foreign studies...17 3. Chapter Three: Methodology 3.1. Introduction........27 3.2. Participants....27 3.3. Instruments....27 3.4. Data...28 3.5. Procedure.......29 3.6. Data analysis.. 29 3.7. Variables 30 3.7.1. Dependent variable 30 3.7.1.1. Duration....31 3.7.1.2. Intensity.... 31 3.7.1.3. Fundamental frequency.... 31 3.7.1.4. Formants........31 ix

3.7.1.5. Center of gravity...32 3.7.2. Independent variable..32 3.7.2.1. Standard accent. 32 3.7.2.2. Kermanian accent.33 4. Chapter Four: Results and Data Analysis 4.1. Introduction...35 4.2. Descriptive statistics..35 4.2.1. Duration.35 4.2.2. Intensity.....38 4.2.3. F1...41 4.2.3.1. Vowel /o/......41 4.2.3.2. Vowel /i/.......44 4.2.3.3. Vowel /æ/..47 4.2.4. F2...50 4.2.4.1. Vowel /o/......50 4.2.4.2. Vowel /i/...53 4.2.4.3. Vowel /æ/....56 4.2.5. F3...59 4.2.5.1. Vowel /o/..59 x

4.2.5.2. Vowel /i/.......62 4.2.5.3. Vowel /æ/......65 4.2.6. Fundamental frequency.67 4.2.6.1. Minimum F0. 67 4.2.6.2. Maximum F0 70 4.2.6.3. Mean F0....73 4.2.7. COG...76 4.3. Analytic statistics...79 4.3.1. Duration.....79 4.3.2. Intensity.....82 4.3.3. Fundamental frequency.....86 4.3.3.1. Minimum F0..... 86 4.3.3.2. Maximum F0.... 87 4.3.3.3. Mean F0........89 4.3.4. F1.......91 4.3.5. F2.......96 4.3.6. F3...100 4.3.7. COG........103 xi

5. Chapter Five: Conclusion and Implication 5.1. Introduction.......106 5.2. Discussion........106 5.3. Implication for future studies.....110 5.4. Limitations of the study.......111 5.5. Suggestions......111 References...........113 xii

List of Tables Table 3.1. Data.....28 Table 4.1. Standard deviation, Mean and range of duration of vowels in standard accent.....36 Table 4.2. Standard deviation, Mean and range of duration of vowels in Kermanian accent...37 Table 4.3. Standard deviation, mean and range of intensity of vowels in standard accent...39 Table 4.4. Standard deviation, mean and range of intensity of vowels in Kermanian accent.......39 Table 4.5. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /o/ in standard accent.42 Table 4.6. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /o/ in Kermanian accent.......42 Table 4.7. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /i/ in standard accent...45 Table 4.8. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /i/ in Kermanian accent...45 xiii

Table 4.9. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /æ/ in standard accent...48 Table 4.10. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F1 in vowel /æ/ in Kermanian accent...48 Table 4.11. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /o/ in Standard accen...51 Table 4.12. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /o/ in Kermanian accent...51 Table 4.13. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /i/ in standard accent...54 Table 4.14. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /i/ in Kermanian accent...54 Table 4.15. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /æ/ in standard accent...57 Table 4.16. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F2 in vowel /æ/ in Kermanian accent...57 Table 4.17. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /o/ in Standard accent......60 xiv

Table 4.18. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /o/ in Kermanian accent...60 Table 4.19. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /i/ in standard accent...63 Table 4.20. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /i/ in Kermanian accent...63 Table 4.21. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /æ/ in standard accent...65 Table 4.22. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F3 in vowel /æ/ in Kermanian accent...66 Table 4.23. Standard deviation, mean and rang of minimum F0 in vowels of standard accent.68 Table 4.24. Standard deviation, mean and rang of minimum F0 in vowels of Kermanian accent....69 Table 4.25. Standard deviation, mean and rang of maximum F0 in vowels of standard accent.71 Table 4.26. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F0 maximum in vowels of Kermanian accent....71 xv

Table 4.27. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F0 mean in vowels of standard accen........74 Table 4.28. Standard deviation, mean and rang of F0 mean in vowels of Kermanian accent...74 Table 4.29. Standard deviation, mean and rang of COG in vowels of Standard accent....77 Table 4.30. Standard deviation, mean and rang of COG in vowels of Kermanian accent...77 Table 4.31. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in duration of vowels..80 Table 4.32. Effect of accent on duration of vowels.80 Table 4.33. Effect of focus condition on duration of vowels..80 Table 4.34. Effect of mode on duration of vowels...80 Table 4.35. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in intensity of vowels..83 Table 4.36. Effect of accent on intensity of vowels. 84 Table 4.37. Effect of focus on intensity of vowels..84 Table 4.38. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in minimum F0 of vowels.. 86 xvi

Table 4.39. Effect of accent on minimum F0 of vowels..87 Table 4.40. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in maximum F0 of vowels.. 88 Table 4.41. Effect of accent on maximum F0 of vowels.88 Table 4.42. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in mean F0 of vowels..90 Table 4.43. Effect of accent on mean F0 of vowels. 90 Table 4.44. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F1 of vowel /o/.92 Table 4.45. Effect of accent on F1 of vowel /o/...92 Table 4.46. Effect of mode on F1 of vowel /o/ 92 Table 4.47. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F1 of vowel /æ/.93 Table 4.48. Effect of accent on F1 of vowel /æ/..93 Table 4.49. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F1 of vowel /i/..93 Table 4.50. Effect of accent on F1 of vowel /i/ 93 Table 4.51. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F2 of vowel /o/.97 xvii

Table 4.52. Effect of mode on F2 of vowel /o/ 97 Table 4.53. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F2 of vowel /æ/. 98 Table 4.54. Effect of accent on F2 of vowel /æ/..98 Table 4.55. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F2 of vowel /i/..98 Table 4.56. Effect of accent on F2 of vowel /i/...98 Table 4.57. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F3 of vowel /o/...101 Table 4.58. Effect of accent on F3 of vowel /o/.101 Table 4.59. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F3 of vowel /æ/...101 Table 4.60. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in F3 of vowel /i/ 102 Table 4.61. Effect of accent on F3 of vowel /i/ 102 Table 4.62. Analytic statistics of accent, focus and mode in COG of vowels 104 Table 4.63. Effect of accent on COG of vowels...104 xviii

List of Figures Figure 3.1. The textgrid with wave form for a sentence (/sæhær pætu ro bolænd kærd/) pronounced by a female standard speaker...30 Figure 4.1. Mean of duration in standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......37 Figure 4.2. Mean of duration in Standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...38 Figure 4.3. Mean of intensity in standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......40 Figure 4.4. Mean of intensity in standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...40 Figure 4.5. Mean of F1 of vowel /o/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......43 Figure 4.6. Mean of F1 of vowel /o/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...43 Figure 4.7. Mean of F1 of vowel /i/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......46 xix

Figure 4.8. Mean of F1 of vowel /o/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...46 Figure 4.9. Mean of F1 of vowel /æ/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......49 Figure 4.10. Mean of F1 of vowel / æ/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...49 Figure 4.11. Mean of F2 of vowel /o/ in Standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......52 Figure 4.12. Mean of F2 of vowel /o/ in standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...52 Figure 4.13. Mean of F2 of vowel /i/ in standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......55 Figure 4.14. Mean of F2 of vowel /i/ in standard and Kermanian accent in interrogative mode...55 Figure 4.15. Mean of F2 of vowel /æ/in standard and Kermanian accent in declarative mode......58 xx