Vowel length in Da-Ang dialect of Palaung : Spoken in Shan state, Myanmar

Abstract

Da-ang is a dialect of the Palaung language which belongs to Palaungic branch of Mon-Khmer of Austro-Asiatic language family.This paper aims to examine central vowel length contrast in Da-ang dialect of Palaung from a coustic perspective.The vowel duration measurement shows that the duration of long vowels were twice as long as short vowels.For the mid central vowels,the short vowel has higher F1 and F2 values than the long counter part.For the low central vowels,on the other hand,the first two formants (F1,F2)are lower in the short vowels.The results of the experiment confirm the phonological analysis of this study. Da-ang vowel length is contrastive for non-high central vowels. Although the differing in duration is accompanied by vowel quality differences,the vowel duration is the main cue for distinguishing between short and long vowels in Da-ang. © Universitat de Barcelona.