The Acoustic Variation of Mid-to-Close Central Vowel Phonemes in Pindian and Farsherot Varieties of Aromanian

Abstract

The dialect spectrum of the Aromanian language consists of two broader clusters of varieties, each made up of multiple subgroups. The Pindian and the Farsherot varieties of Aromanian can be viewed, respectively, as representatives for either of these broader clusters. It is commonly assumed that a vowel contrast between /ə/ and /ɨ/ is maintained in Pindian varieties, but not in Farsherot ones. Relying on a speech corpus featuring both Pindian and Farsherot native speakers (locations: Turia, Kutsufliani versus Andon Poçi, Gjirokastër, Stjar), this study provides a quantitative account of the Aromanian vowel system. The results indicate that Farsherot speakers, indeed, tend not to display such a vowel contrast. Instead, they produce a single vowel phoneme with an allophonic range from [ε] to [ə], with stressed realisations being more frequently distributed around fronted qualities. Several Pindian speakers, on the other hand, can be shown to maintain the expected contrast, but only between distributions of stressed /ə/ and /ɨ/ occurrences. This finding is consistent with some theoretical models of Aromanian phonology.