Spectral and Temporal Characteristics of Vowels in Konkani

The present study was undertaken to study the acoustic characteristics of vowels using spectrographic analysis in Mangalorean Catholic Konkani dialect of Konkani spoken in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. Recordings were done using CVC words in 11 males and 19 females between the age range of 18–55 years. The CVC words consisted of combinations of vowels such as (/i, i:, e, ɵ, ə, u, o, ɐ, ӓ, ɔ/) and consonants such as (/m, k, w, s, ʅ, h, l, r, p, ʤ, g, n, Ɵ, ṭ, ḷ, b, dh/). Recordings were done in a sound-treated room using PRAAT software and spectrographic analysis was done and spectral and temporal characteristics such as fundamental frequency (F0), formants (F1, F2, F3) and vowel duration. The results showed that higher fundamental frequency values were observed for short, high and back vowels. Higher F1 values were noted for open vowels and F2 was higher for front vowels. Long vowels had longer duration compared to short vowels and females had longer vowel duration compared to males. The acoustic information in terms of spectral and temporal cues helps in better understanding the production and perception of languages and dialects.