Phonation type in vowels of heritage and native Gujarati speakers

Abstract

Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language, contrasts phonation type in vowels: [baɾ] ‘twelve’ and [baɾ] ‘outside’ (Pandit, 1957) and the current study looked at Gujarati vowels using acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) analyses. The participants were native and heritage Gujarati speakers. Heritage speakers were born in Canada or arrived in Canada before seven years of age and learned Gujarati as their first language. Due to limited access to their first language, such as listening more than speaking the language and using Gujarati exclusively at home, it was expected that there might not be a significant difference between the heritage speakers’ breathy and modal vowel productions. This study determined if the acoustic and EGG parameters that differentiate breathy from modal vowels were the same or different for both speaker groups. Some of the parameters used to distinguish phonation type were H1-H2, H1-A1 ('A1' refers to amplitude of the first formant), harmonic-to-noise ratio, and contact quotient. Measure...