THE ACQUISITION OF HUNGARIAN HIGH FRONT UNROUNDED SHORT VS. LONG VOWELS

This study examined spectral properties of the Hungarian vowel pair /i/ vs. /i:/ with contrasting phonemic vowel lengths in 2;0 and 4;0 years old boys acquiring Hungarian as their native language. Results were obtained by an automated pitch-synchronous bandfilter analysis method that estimates the spectral envelope representation of vowels. Subsequent data reduction was achieved via principal component analysis. Examining the spectral differentiation of vowels with contrasting phonemic vowel lengths is an important step towards formulating a theory of vowel acquisition. Findings show that 4;0 years old boys produce more peripheral vowels than 2;0-year olds, due partly to 1) an increased ability to produce vowels with higher (more closed) jaw position, 2) increased skills for formulating appropriate lip positioning, 3) a heightened ability to more precisely coordinate lip positioning with higher and more frontal tongue positions, and 4) an increased ability to maintain lip/jaw positions for longer duration, along with less variability in articulatory movements during the production of a vowel. Additionally, the vowel space of older children contains more compact vowel spaces corresponding to each vowel, indicating more consistent production patterns. Spectral features of /i/ vs. /i:/ differ in 4;0 years old as opposed to 2;0 years old boys.