Analysis of Punjabi tonemes

The present paper describes the analysis of five Punjabi tonemes (tonal sounds), their variations when they occur in initial, medial and final positions of words spoken by native and non-native speakers. 1500 words are recorded by ten different speakers (5 male and 5 female). Out of these 1500, 150 words have been considered to analyze these tonemes in terms of acoustic parameters. Special attention is paid to the pitch movement (rise, fall or peak). The characteristic differences between the pitch movements have been observed. As the result of investigation, it can be said that the fall and rise in the pitch movements indicate change in pronunciation of tonemes as a result of their position of occurrence. The acoustic patterns of these tonemes spoken by the native speakers and the non-native speakers show significant difference.