The Phonetic Interpretation of the “Central Vowel” in the Tarama Variety of Miyako Ryukyuan

Abstract

This study describes the phonetic features of the “central vowel” in Miyako Ryukyuan . Previous studies have not described its phonetic details adequately, although it has been reported that the vowel has cross-linguistically unusual phonetic features such as [s]-like frication and a kind of laminal modiication. his study focuses on the Tarama variety of the language, and I describe the central vowel using two instrumental techniques, namely, acoustic analysis and static palatography.

Previous studies have debated whether the vowel is central or laminal/apical, but the results reported here suggest that it has a double articulation, both alveolar (laminal) and velar (dorsal).