Phonetic Features And Phonological Analysis Of Vowel Harmony Phenomenon In Kyrgyz

This paper mainly uses the analytical method of acoustic phonetics to describe the acoustic features of vowels and vowel harmony patterns in Kyrgyz,and it adopts the phonological framework to verify whether the results of the acoustic experiment conform to the phonological rules in Turkic languages or not.Kyrgyz has fourteen vowel sounds in literary language: [i],[y],[yy],[uu],[u],[ee],[e],[??],[?],[?],[oo],[o],[aa],[a].It concludes six pairs of vowels which are relative in length and the other two short vowel sounds.Vowel harmony phenomenon is a typical phonetic characteristic in Turkic languages,and it strictly follows the opposition structure of [+/-back] to form the words,that is the front vowels constitute harmony with the front vowels and the back vowels constitute harmony with back vowels.Vowel harmony does not only limit to word stems,but the vowels in word suffixes keep consistent with the quality of vowels in the first syllable of word stems.Firstly,the formants and duration values of these fourteen vowels are analyzed by method of experimental phonetics,and the acoustic features of each vowel can be shown through the data and relative diagrams.Secondly,different patterns of vowel harmony in Kyrgyz are listed by summarizing the vowel parameters of first and second syllables and also the suffixes of word stems.And the disharmony phenomenon in Kyrgyz will also be discussed.Besides,the acoustic features of vowel harmony in Kyrgyz are verified when embed into the rules of phonology.This paper will give an explanatory description to vowel harmony phenomenon in Kyrgyz based on the SPE Generative Phonology and Feature Geometry Theory which is a sub-theory of Nonlinear Phonology.With the combination of acoustic experiment and phonological explanation,this research fully discusses a language fact of vowel harmony in Kyrgyz,and the results have reference values for commanding this language.At the same time,it promotes speech synthesis and information processing of Kyrgyz language.