Acoustic characteristics of fricatives in Asante, Bono and Denkyira Dialects of Akan

Abstract

This study investigated the fricatives of Asante, Bono and Denkyira with the aim of establishing the acoustic properties of the fricatives. Three fricatives [f], [s] and [ç] of Asante, Bono and Denkyira were examined in [a, ɛ, ɪ] vowel contexts. Fifteen (15) male and fifteen (15) female speakers between the ages of 20-35 years were recruited for the study. All the fricative consonants were within the scope of prevocalic and intervocalic using CV and CVC syllables respectively. Three parameters were used: Spectral peak location, duration and F2 transition. Various statistical analyses were also carried out to determine the differences and similarities that existed among the fricatives as well as the dialects. The results indicated that the spectral peak location and F2 transition were able to differentiate all the fricatives at their various places of articulation. [f] had the highest spectral peak location frequency, followed by [s] and [ç] respectively. For F2 transition, [f] had the lowest F2 value, followed by [s] and [ç] respectively. Also, the duration of [f] was significantly different from both [s] and [ç] but [s] and [ç] were not significantly different. Duration was not robust in differentiating the fricatives. However, the duration of [f] was significantly different from both [s] and [ç] but [s] and [ç] were not significantly different. The study also discovered that, whenever [s] and [ҫ] occurred at word-initial position, the Asante speakers produced them with shorter durations than Bono and Denkyira speakers. Again, it was discovered that only the duration of [ç] at word initial position differs in term of gender. Another finding of the study is that males and females differ significantly in the production of the fricatives with females having higher spectral peak location frequency values than their male counterparts.