SPH399: Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Space in Western Sydney

This report investigates vowel production in Western Sydney English through acoustic analysis, aiming to examine the current vowel space and compare it with data from the past four decades. The study focuses on a 24-year-old female participant, analyzing twelve monophthongs and six diphthongs in /hvd/, /hvt/, and /hv/ contexts using spectrographic techniques. The results reveal variations in vowel duration and space depending on the consonantal context, with vowels in /hv/ contexts generally being longer. Comparisons with past research indicate potential shifts in vowel articulation among Western Sydney English speakers. The report acknowledges limitations such as the small sample size and lack of demographic diversity, suggesting avenues for future research. The conclusion emphasizes the ongoing linguistic changes and the altered vowel space observed in contemporary Western Sydney English.

ACOUSTIC VOWELS SPACE ANALYSIS
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
1. To examine the current vowel space production in Western Sidney by the use of acoustics
analysis.
2. To analys changes in vowel production if any, in comparison to the last four decades.
HYPOTHESIS STATEMENT
Whenever the current vowel production in Western Sidney is changed, the produced sound will
acquire an altered vowel space.
INTRODUCTION
Linguistic alteration is paramount in all languages, be it foreign of native language. A lot of
improvement in phonetic characteristics can easily be seen in almost all languages as time goes by.
Bloomfield (1933), believed that linguistic change can be as a result of language speakers preferring
a certain phonetic variant to the other, he then took it as a gradual methodology that does not occur
immediately. This is to mean it take some time for one to see a change.
TOPIC AND QUESTION OF DISCUSSION
In the past decades, a lot of work has been done to investigate vowel production and vowel
alterations among English speakers. Cox (1999), in conjunction with Bernard (1967), made a
comparison study where by seventy English speakers in Western Sidney were sampled, out of which

ladies aged 24 years were matched and a comparison was made, from the 1965 records, out of
thirty young ladies, there was a revelation on the test of monophthongs which showed that, shot
fong like /e/ were significantly high in relation to the 1965 data. On the other hand Labor (1994) in
his investigation realised that there have been a drastic change in vowel production with some
results which are not in line with others. The results showed that tenses that have long vowels
seems to rise and are easily fronted, while those tenses that have shorter vowels are relatively
lower.

So as to evaluate whether currently we still have a further vowel space shift, we engaged in a
research on participant, N.D, with a twenty four years old female student. To acquire access to the
acoustic information on the vowel production, we decided to use standard spectrographic
techniques. Out of the twelve monophthongs we used, seven of them were short vowels which
are, / i:, ɪ, e, æ, ɐː, ɐ, ɔ/, and five proved to be long vowels, /oː, ʊ, ʉː, ɜː e:/. Still we had six
diphthongs which included /ɪə, æɪ, ɑe, oɪ, æɔ, əʉ/. More so we randomly selected fourty six words all
of which had either a /hvd/, /hvt/ or /hv/ context. We summarized the results that has a revelation
on vowels information in graphs of which has outlined the vowel space of the participants. We did
all these so as to enable the reader visualize the results in a very simple and easy way. We also felt
that it was the most appropriate way to compare and contrast with other vowel spaces.
RESULTS ANALYSIS

The time taken to pronounce each vowel was recorded in milliseconds in different context as it was
used in different sentences. A bar graph of duration in milliseconds against Vowels was plotted to
indicate vowel produced. In /hv/ situation without a full stop are longer as compared to vowels that
are accompanied by a voiceless stop /t/ that seemed to be shot in length. From the graph you can
also realize that /0I/ phonetic can not be discovered easily in the /hvd/ the same way it is placed
equally as it is in /i:/. Sound /æ/ after the test in some context with a final stop proved to have
lowerd sound
GRAPHS

From the above graphs, it is clear that monophthongs vowels that were produced in the /hv/ context
and the /3:/ were the most centralized. On the other hand, the fronted vowel /I:/ were high in
the /hvd/ and /hvt/ situation. More so the /I/ sound were the most fronted in all cases.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
It is very clear that different vowel spaces are produced in different styles which depends on the
context with which a vowel spaces are produced. You will realize that, if there is no final stop, the
vowel produced are longer with relatively greater vowel spaces. For instance, front vowels /0:/
and /0/ seemed to be the most fronted and raised in situation with a full stop. On the other hand, all
diphthongs rose and were more fronted a part from /æ/ sound which despite of rising but it was
more backed. The /ɪə/ sound in /hv/ situation was fronted but it did not rise. In comparison to the
last four decades, you realize that, front vowels /i:/ and /I/ were neither high nor rising. Our
assumption was that may be the English speakers in Western Sidney were articulating the vowels in
a much broader sense in the mouth.
SHORTCOMINGS OF THIS STUDY
1. Only one person aged twenty four yeas was selected for the study. If a good number of
people were interviewed the results would be more meaningful.
2. The study did not consider gender and age, may be the result would have been different in
male and aged English speakers.
3. The study did not look at the difference in vowels space among clans, since the girl selected
came from one clan of which may not be same in the neighborhood.
4. Some people are stammers, when used as a case study, they may give wrong information,
especially when it comes to pronunciation.
CONCLUSION

From our study, we can comfortably conclude that, we still expecte a lot of changes in linguistics
across all languages. For the last four decades alone, in Western Sidney English speakers, a lot of
phonetic variance have been observed. This is to mean that current vowels production has infact
really changed of which as a result has altered the vowel space among the present Western Sidney’s
English speakers.
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