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Article published In: Variation and change in the languages of Indonesia
Edited by Maya Ravindranath Abtahian and Abigail C. Cohn
[Asia-Pacific Language Variation 7:2] 2021
► pp. 168–184

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Voice onset time and vowel quality in Madurese

The role of gender and dialect

 | Universitas Trunojoyo Madura
Published online: 6 October 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.20008.mis
Abstract
Madurese exhibits a three-way laryngeal contrast in its plosive inventory, distinguishing voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated plosives. Previous studies have investigated some acoustic characteristics of the contrast but have not examined possible dialectal variation in this contrast. The present study aims to discuss the contrast by examining Voice Onset Time (VOT) and vowel quality (F1). Twenty participants (10 Western Madurese speakers and 10 Eastern Madurese speakers) were recruited and instructed to read 150 Madurese words containing plosives. The results showed that an interaction of dialect and gender were significantly correlated with VOT: male Western Madurese speakers produced shorter VOT for voiced and voiceless aspirated plosives than their Eastern counterparts. There was also variation in F1 between gender across dialects: male Western Madurese speakers produced [ə] with a lower F1 than their Eastern counterparts. It was suggested that the variation was possibly due to language contact with Javanese.
Abstract (Indonesian)
Bahasa Madura membedakan tiga jenis bunyi hambat, yaitu bunyi hambat bersuara, tak bersuara beraspirasi, dan tak bersuara tak beraspirasi. Studi sebelumnya telah menyelidiki beberapa karakteristik akustik dari ketiga jenis bunyi tersebut tetapi belum meneliti kemungkinan variasi dialek dalam perbedaannya. Penelitian ini bertujuan membahas perbedaan ketiga bunyi tersebut dengan mengkaji Voice Onset Time (VOT) dan kualitas vokal (F1). Dua puluh partisipan (10 penutur Madura Barat dan 10 penutur Madura Timur) direkrut dan diinstruksikan membaca 150 kata Madura yang mengandung bunyi hambat. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa interaksi dialek dan gender berkorelasi signifikan dengan VOT: penutur laki-laki Madura Barat memiliki VOT lebih pendek untuk bunyi hambat bersuara dan tak bersuara beraspirasi daripada penutur laki-laki Madura Timur. Ada juga variasi dalam F1 antara gender di seluruh dialek: penutur laki-laki Madura Barat menghasilkan vokal [ə] dengan F1 lebih rendah dibandingkan penutur laki-laki Madura Timur. Variasi tersebut diduga timbul karena kontak dengan bahasa Jawa.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methods
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Voice onset time (VOT)
    • 3.2First formant frequency (F1)
  • 4.General discussion
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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