Vowel raising, deletion and diphthongization in Kozani Greek

Abstract

This study examined three vocalic phenomena in Kozani Greek, unstressed high-vowel deletion, unstressed mid-vowel raising, and stressed mid-vowel diphthongization. Eight dialectal speakers were recorded conversing freely with a native speaker of the dialect. The results showed that high vowel deletion and mid vowel raising occurred frequently (but not always) in the corpus and were not restricted to word-final position. Stressed mid vowel diphthongization was rare. Acoustic measurements of first and second formant frequencies (F1-F2) showed that raised mid vowels /e/ and /o/ were very similar to /i/ and /u/ respectively and diphthongized /e/ and /o/ had the characteristic for diphthongs F1-F2 formant movement. Overall, the application of such vocalic phenomena in Kozani Greek resulted in an asymmetrical vowel system, especially in unstressed position.