THE ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES OF THE VOWELS OF
PANGASINAN
Francisco C. Rosario, Jr.
University of the Philippines
217 Baldog, San Carlos City, Pangasinan, 2420
+639063550691
furashin@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Languages in the Philippines, though almost all belonging to the
Austronesian language family, have unique ways on how sounds
and sound patterns are realized. The number of phonemic
sounds varies in each language.
The Pangasinan language, according to Richard Benton, has five
significant vowel phonemes namely /a/, /E, /e/, /i/ and /o/ or /u/,
and 13 consonant phonemes. The quality of these phonemes
changes depending on the environment.
This study aims to use a scientific approach in describing the
vowels of Pangasinan according to their acoustic properties and
depending on the environments they are found.
These
environments include stressed and unstressed positions. A
software program will be utilized to analyze the individual
characteristics of these vowels.
In general, this study aims to contribute to the development of
linguistic materials in teaching Pangasinan language to its native
speakers, and even to interested second language learners.
General Term
These differences in every language entail a lot in the pedagogic
aspect of language. For example, language learning and teaching
may be greatly influenced by the differences in phonological
system and grammar. It is important, therefore, to investigate on
the peculiarities of the languages, especially those which are
included in the school curriculum.
2. OBJECTIVES
The researcher finds it very important to study the local
languages in the Philippines. By doing such, knowledge on a
particular language can be shared not only to the native speakers
but also to the non-native speakers who are interested in learning
a local language.
Grammar books in Pangasinan have different claims on the
number of vowel phonemes present in the language. For this
reason, the paper aims to provide a description of the vowels of
Pangasinan. Also, by using a scientific approach, the research
intends to clarify related issues on Pangasinan phonology that
lead to several issues in our understanding and appreciation of
our language, and even to language learning and teaching.
Languages
3. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
Keywords
Pangasinan language, vowel space
1. INTRODUCTION
Each language has its unique characteristics. Syntactic
structures, sounds and sound patterns vary in different languages
even those belonging to the same language family. This explains
why Philippine languages, even though showing similarities
through cognates (lexical items showing similarities in form and
meaning), have individual qualities.
In this paper, the researcher focused on Pangasinan language – a
northern Philippine language being used and spoken by
approximately 1.5 million of the population in the province of
Pangasinan. This paper describes the acoustic properties of the
vowels of Pangasinan, particularly the F1 and F2 frequencies,
and provides a vowel space chart of the language.
The researcher had limitations on the data used for this research.
There were enough samples gathered for the vowels /a/, /E/, /e/,
/i/ and /o/, however, the researcher only had limited samples for
the vowel /u/.
4. RELATED STUDIES
Different languages have different ways on how sounds are
articulated and produced. Two different languages can have
different sound system and sound patterns.
It is very important for language teachers to know the structure
and peculiarities of the languages that they teach in school. The
knowledge and skills in both the first language (L1) and the
target language are needed to facilitate better language learning
and teaching.
4.1 Language learning and teaching
Vowels, which are considered the nuclei of syllables, are
produced with less constriction in the vocal tract. These sounds
are also more sonorous compared to the consonants making
them sound louder. This element of higher sonority has become
the basis in forming the syllables. (McCombs 2006)
Candalene J. McCombs (2006) investigated on the differences
of the vowel sounds of Spanish and English language, and on its
implications in language learning and teaching.
In her study which included Spanish speakers recruited to study
in a seminary and required to participate in an intensive English
language program, she noted the importance of correct
articulation of sounds, specifically the vowel sounds, for better
language learning and teaching. She mentioned that “the
influence of the first language could support second language
learning in areas of structural similarities or thwart language
learning in areas of dissimilarity” (n.p). For example, sound
production in the target language can be highly influenced
(positively or negatively) by the phonological system of the
learner’s L1. Hence, intensive knowledge on the phonological
system of the learner’s L1 and target language is needed to
improve one’s oral language skills. .
4.2 Pangasinan phonology
According to Rev. Fidel of Amurrio (1970), the Pangasinan
language has four vowels /a/, /e/, /i/ and /o/ or /u/ and 14 native
consonants. He stated that /o/ and /u/ are interchangeable. The
use of these two sounds depends usually on the preference of the
language speaker. For example, /u/ occurs in stressed syllables
and /o/ for unstressed syllables (1-2).
Another scholar on Pangasinan grammar, Richard Benton (1971,
4), stated that native speakers of Pangasinan recognize four
significant vowel phonemes namely /a/, /e/, /i/ and /o/ and 13
consonant phonemes. He also included the phoneme /E/ for
words of Spanish origin. For most Pangasinan speakers, /i/ is
substituted to the vowel /E/ (4, 10).
To further illustrate this, he provided a detailed chart of the
articulatory properties of the vowels of Pangasinan. In this
vowel chart, we see the differences on how the vowels in
English and Pangasinan are articulated. For Pangasinan, Benton
indicated that a vowel phoneme like /a/ can have three variants
or different ways of articulation – [a1], [a2] and [a3], so as with
/i/ and /o/.
It is noticeable that Benton did not include /u/ in the vowel
chart. He pointed out that /o/ is represented orthographically by
the letters ‘u’ and ‘o’ which can be used interchangeably in
words where /o/ occurs (14).
Table 1. Relative position of English and Pangasinan vowels
LIPS
Tongue
HIGH
LOWER
HIGH
HIGH
MID
MID
LOWER
MID
LOW
UNROUNDED
Central
Back of
Central
/i/ [i1]
/i/
[e]
/I/ [i2]
[e]
Front
[E]
[i3]
/e/ [E]
ROUNDED
Back
/u/ [o1]
/U/ [o2]
[o3]
/ǝ/
/o/
[a1]
/æ/
/a/ [a2]
[a3]
/ↄ/
This chart was taken from Richard Benton’s Pangasinan reference
grammar (1971, 6). The English vowel phonemes are in slashes and the
Pangasinan vowels are in square brackets.
The occurrence of different variants of a phoneme can be
attributed to the surrounding environment of a sound. Stress can
be attributed to this.
In addition, Benton noted that one very important difference of
Pangasinan vowels to English vowels is that the former retains
its quality even in unstressed environments, which is very
unlikely to happen in English. Pangasinan vowels, even in
unstressed environment, are articulated clearly (14).
5. METHODS AND PROCEDURES
The participants in this study are six native speakers of
Pangasinan (three males and three females) and ranged in the
age from 19-39 years old (mean of age = 25.67).
The participants were asked to utter statements which carry in
them the target words. The researcher first uttered the
statements, and the respondents were asked to repeat the
statements in their own way without considering how the
researcher uttered the statements. Having them repeat the
statements in their own way was preferred than asking them to
read the statements because the written form may even influence
the pronunciation of words.
The statements were recorded using a software program called
Praat. The same program was used to extract the target words
and label each sound segment.
As for example, the vowel /a/ is found in the following words.
(a) ‘a.nak ‘children’
a.’nak ‘child’
Figure 1. Annotation of the word ‘i.tik ‘duck’ through Praat
TextGrid, including the sound waveform and the
spectogram
Formants, particularly F1 and F2, were measured and plotted
using the JPlotFormants to illustrate the vowel space of the
language.
Figure 2. The (stressed) vowel space of Pangasinan
6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Different from the English mid-central vowel, Pangasinan /e/ is
located in the high-central position. This sound is found in the
following words.
According to Peter Ladefoged (2003), the formants are the most
important acoustic properties of the vowels (104). In phonetics,
the formant refers to the acoustic resonance of the human vocal
tract (2006, 188).
Usually, the first formant (F1) and the second formant (F2) are
used to determine the characteristics of the vowels. These are
also usually correlated with the position of the tongue in the
process of articulation. The F1 is used to identify whether the
sound is open or closed and high or low. As the F1 increases, the
mouth becomes more open and the position of the tongue is
lower.
The F2, on the other hand, is used to identify whether the sound
is fronted or backed. In the process of articulation, when the F2
increases, the tongue is fronted.
In the vowel space chart, the small letters represent the samples
of the vowel sounds, while the large symbols represent the mean
of these sounds. The vowel space chart shows the F1
frequencies in vertical axis and the F2 frequencies in the
horizontal axis.
6.1 Mapping the stressed vowels
Based on the chart below, Pangasinan language has five vowel
phonemes namely /a/, /E/, /e/, /i/ and /o/ or /u/.
It is clearly shown in the chart that /a/ is a separate vowel
phoneme. Among the Pangasinan vowels, /a/ has the highest F1,
therefore is the lowest in position among the vowel sounds. In
the articulation process, the tongue is lowered and the oral
cavity is more open.
(b) ‘te.lek ‘deaf’
te.’lek ‘go around’
The vowel /E/ has already been accepted as part of the
Pangasinan phonological system because of the presence of
many borrowed words. These words can be of Spanish origin or
borrowed from the Tagalog language.
(c) an.’tEs ‘before’
‘trE.sE ‘thirteen’
In stressed environment, /E/ is different from /i/. The vowel /i/
has the highest F2 and lowest F1, therefore the tongue is fronted
and high during the articulation.
(d) ‘i.tik ‘duck’
i.’lik ‘paddy rice’
Unlike the vowels /E/ and /i/ which appeared in different
positions, it is noticeable that the vowels /o/ and /u/ are located
at almost exact position in the chart. This supports the idea that
sounds /o/ and /u/ are the same sounds in Pangasinan though
written differently using ‘o’ and ‘u’ (as shown below) as the
orthographic symbols.
(e)
‘o.tob ‘distribute’
o.’lor ‘carry’
‘Lu.nes ‘Monday’
6.2 Mapping the unstressed vowels
There are significant changes when the environment of the
vowel sounds changes. In unstressed environments, Pangasinan
appears to have only four vowels.
There are slight changes in the position of the vowels /a/, /e/ and
/o/. The vowel /e/, for example, is a bit lower in unstressed
environment but not enough to say that these are two different
phonemes. The vowel /a/ becomes a bit higher in unstressed
position compared to the one in the stressed position. Also, the
change in the vowel /o/ in unstressed environment is not
significant. Unfortunately, there were no samples of the vowel
/u/ in unstressed environment.
In stressed environments, /E/ and /i/ appears to be two different
phonemes. However, there is not much difference when we
consider the two vowels in the unstressed environments. The
vowel space chart (see Figure 3) shows that /E/ and /i/ are not
distinct vowels.
Students learning a second language may transfer his/her skills
on his/her L1 in the target language.
The lesser number of vowels present in learner’s L1 may hinder
him/her in learning the sounds present in his/her target language.
In the case of Pangasinan, the five or four vowels present in the
language is lesser compared to the number of vowel phonemes
of English, and this may cause the learner difficulties in the
learning the new sounds.
This information is also important for non-native speakers of
Pangasinan learning the language. This provides the non-native
speakers an idea on the phonological system of Pangasinan
language.
The differences in the phonological system, particularly the
vowels, pose problems not only to language learners but also to
language teachers. These challenge language teachers to have a
deeper understanding of their L1 and also the language that they
teach their students in school.
However, aside from looking at the language differences as a
challenge for both language learners and teachers, we should
also consider these as our references in understanding and
appreciation of our language.
8. REFERENCES
Figure 3. The (unstressed) vowel space of Pangasinan
The changing behaviors of the vowels /E/ and /i/ and /o/ and /u/
are not surprising at all. As Benton noted in his book, speakers
of Pangasinan language use these sounds interchangeably. The
vowel /i/ is often used as a substitute to /E/.
7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Based on the data presented in this paper, Pangasinan language
has five vowel phonemes namely – /a/, /E/, /e/, /i/ and /o/ or /u/.
The number of significant vowels changes depending on the
environment. As stated here, /E/ and /i/ are two different
phonemes in stressed environment, however these sounds
become identical in unstressed environment.
This information entails a lot especially in our understanding
and appreciation of the language. Identifying the distinctions
between the L1 and the target language can have significant
contributions to effective language learning and teaching.
[1]
Benton, R. 1971. Pangasinan reference grammar.
University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
[2]
Ladefoged, P. 2003. Phonetic data analysis.
Blackwell Publishing, USA.
[3]
. 2006. A course in phonetics, 5th edition.
Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth.
[4]
McCombs, C. J. 2006. The acoustic properties of
vowels: a tool for improving articulation and
comprehension of English. In Forum on Public
Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table, Fall
2006, p.NA. Retrieved December 14,
2009, from Academic OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE
&userGroupName=phdiliman.
[5]
Rev. Fidel of Amurrio. 1970. Pangasinan grammar.
Bugallon, Pangasinan.