THE ARTICULATORY AND ACOUSTIC STUDY OF FRICATIVE VOWELS IN SUZHOU CHINESE

Abstract

The present study investigates the acoustic and articulatory characteristics of a Fricative vowel in Suzhou Chinese. The acoustic results show that the fricative vowel has more noise and a lower F2 than its pure vowel counterpart. The articulatory results show that the constriction of fricative vowel locates at a more anterior position than the pure close vowel. The commonly accepted correlation between F1 and vowel height, and F2 and vowel backness does not apply to the fricative vowel in the present study.