Phonetics of Jemez vowels

This paper presents a spectral and durational analysis of the vowels of Jemez, a Kiowa–Tanoan language spoken northwest of Albuquerque. The vowel system consists of six short vowels /i e ae ɑ o (barred eye)/ and six corresponding long vowels. For each long and short vowel, except /e/ and /ee/, there is a corresponding nasal vowel. The principal data for the analysis consists of repetitions of words containing each vowel pronounced by a single speaker in isolation and in sentences. Some data from another speaker and from other word contexts is also used. The vowels /e o (barred eye)/ are realized at the same heights, substantially closer to /i/ than to /ae ɑ /. The vowels are monophthongs, except for /e/ and /ee/, which have rising offglides. Long and short vowels do not differ significantly in quality. Nasal vowels are higher than corresponding oral vowels, contrary to cross‐linguistic tendencies. Vowels are raised after the labialized consonants /Φw kw w/ and the palatalized consonants /(sh) kj kjh kj’ j/,...