Himalayan Linguistics

This work investigates the acoustic properties of Angami vowels with the aim of definitively establishing the phonologically contrasting vowels in the language. Contrary to some previous studies that report seven monophthongs and multiple diphthongs, this study concludes that there are six monophthongs and two diphthongs in the language. The acoustic characteristics associated with the monophthongs and the diphthongs are explored and reported in this work. For both monophthongs acoustic characteristics, such as, the first three formants (F1, F2, F3), and duration were explored.  For diphthongs, acoustic features, such as, the first two formants (F1, F2), their discrete cosine transforms (DCT) and duration were explored. The salient of the vowels in terms of their acoustic properties was substantiated by statistical analyses.