Quality of Javanese and Sundanese Vowels

Abstract

The vowel quality of Javanese and Sundanese is influenced by phonation types. The acoustic measurements of the differences in phonation between all Javanese and Sundanese vowels have not been instrumentally examined. Evidence suggests that F1 lowering is a common characteristic of vowel quality correlated with the phonation after the slack-voiced stop /b/. The current study seeks to extend the possible variation in the realization of phonation by Javanese vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /ə/, /u/ and /o/ and Sundanese vowels /i/, /a/, /ə/, /ɨ/, /e/, /u/ and /o/ after the slack-voiced /b/ and the voiceless glottal /h/. In this experiment, the authors recorded the vowel production of four Javanese and four Sundanese native speakers and measured the formant frequencies (F1 and F2). The results confirm that Javanese and Sundanese vowels are constantly pronounced with lower F1 after /b/. In addition, the Javanese speakers articulate the vowel /ɘ/ rather than schwa /ə/ in the slack-voiced /b/ and voiceless glottal stop /h/, in which the vowel occupies the high-mid central position of the vowel space area. The Sundanese speakers in this study surprisingly produce the expected high vowel /ɨ/ in the high near-front of the vowel space; it is suggested to transcribe this as /ʏ/. The results of the formant frequencies of the Javanese and Sundanese vowels are consistent with the study by Hayward (1993) indicating F1 lowering after the slack-voiced /b/.