An Acoustic Description of Diphthongs in Two Varieties of Acehnese

This paper complements current descriptions of Acehnese pronunciation by not only comparing two varieties of Acehnese but also by carrying out an acoustic analysis of the diphthongs in these varieties. Given that there is a dearth of empirical research on pronunciation differences between the standard variety of Acehnese spoken in Aceh and other varieties of Acehnese, this paper examines the acoustic features of oral diphthongs based on Asyik’s (1987) inventory of oral diphthongs. The data comprised diphthongs produced by ten female speakers of the North Aceh dialect (which is considered the standard form of Acehnese) and ten female speakers from Kampung Aceh in Kedah,Malaysia. Acehnese is still spoken in Kampung Aceh by descendants of Acehnese who settled in the area in the late 18th century. Based on the measurements of the Rate of Change of the first and second formants of the target diphthongs and an examination of the onset and offset positions of these diphthongs in the vowel space, it was found that there were fewer diphthongs in the Kampung Aceh variety compared to that of the North Aceh. A possible reason for this is the influence of the Kedah Malay dialect and Standard Malay. The diphthongs produced by the Acehnese speakers also displayed some differences from the ones described by Asyik (1987).