The major pitch features of vocalic quality

Abstract

Acoustic analysis and synthesis of Russian palatalization and Arabic ‘emphasis’ were carried out in order to investigate the Jakobsonian tonality features called sharp and flat. The results indicate that the above features form the extremes of a pitch-like auditory dimension which is related to the separation between the two commonly accepted pitches of vowels — one of which is stimulated by F1, the other by the F2+ group of formants. This suggests a purely auditory three-dimensional vowel space which not only provides theoretical justification for the use of traditional vowel diagrams but also furnishes discrete perceptual correlates for all three of Jakobson's oral resonance dimensions; that is, sharp—ilat, acute—grave, and compact—diffuse.