An acoustic analysis of English monophthongs by Tibetan speakers

This paper, under the framework of Flege´s(1995) Speech Learning Model, investigates the acoustic features of English monophthongs produced by college students who speak Tibetan (Lhasa). Acoustic features of English monophthongs produced by Tibetan speakers are compared with those of British news broadcasters (Deterding, 1997). The study found that: 1. Under the influence of Tibetan vowel system, English vowel space for Tibetan is centralized and smaller than that of RP(Received Pronunciation). 2. Female Tibetan cannot distinguish vowel contrast /e/and /æ/ very well. For English vowels produced by female Tibetan, /i:/ is lower than that of RP, /i/ and /a:/ are fronter than RP /i/ and /a:/, what´s more, /u:/ is less fronter than RP/u:/; male Tibetan differentiate vowels /e/ and /æ/ successfully. For English vowels produced by male Tibetan, /i:/ is less fronter than RP /i:/, /a:/ is much fronter than RP/a:/ and /u:/ is less fronter and lower than RP/u:/.