Aspetti qualitativi e quantitativi del vocalismo tonico pisano e livornese

Abstract

The present work is a preliminary acoustic study of the stressed vowel systems of four locations in Western Tuscany (Livorno, Pisa, Cascina, Cecina) that have articulatory characteristics not present in the Central Tuscan vowel system, such as the velarization (backing) of the low vowel /a/ and a general lowering of stressed mid vowels. The working hypothesis of this study is that the city of Livorno is the epicenter of these particular articulations (specifically lowering); young speakers of the other three locations have adopted specific characteristics of the Livornese vowel system as a social marker that signals group identity. In the first part of the article we present the results of an acoustic study of a speech corpus from twelve male subjects (three for each location, divided into three age groups) which has minimal diaphasic variation (register variation). The seven stressed vowels under consideration were inserted in a target work which was read in isolation and in internal and final position in a carrier phrase (we focus on the first two typologies). Vowel duration, and first and second formant frequencies were measured. In the second part, the most typical vowel system is described on the basis of statistical analyses and graphical representations, and the duration and fundamental frequency modulation relationship is discussed. Finally, some hypotheses ont the historical time frame and the origin of the phenomena (using data from linguistic atlases) are put forth. Some possible directions for future research from a point of view which joins acoustic research with dialect and sociolinguistic studies are suggested