Factors of the vowel duration variability in Kazym Khanty: new acoustic evidence

The Khanty language, and specifically the Kazym dialect, is remarkable in terms of its phonetic typology, which contrasts short, long, and reduced vowels through both timbral and quantitative features. While duration variability has been addressed in traditional studies, the interaction between timbre and duration, as well as the influence of syllabic factors, requires further investigation. This study employs corpus phonetic methods to analyze new acoustic data and elucidate the relationship between these features. The dataset comprises over 5,000 vowel segments recorded from native speakers in Novosibirsk and Khanty-Mansiysk. Data annotation was performed using the Praat software, while statistical analysis and visualization were conducted using R programming. A 3D model of the vocal space, incorporating formant frequencies and duration, reveals that while long vowels may undergo shortening to the physical duration of short vowels, their timbral features remain stable and maintain phonemic contrasts. The study examines several factors influencing duration variability, including word length (number of syllables) and syllable openness. Analysis of disyllabic forms identifies distinct patterns of length distribution. For instance, the vowel in the first syllable of a disyllabic word is 1.1–1.3 times shorter than in monosyllabic forms. Significant shortening is also observed in closed first syllables (especially for long vowels) and in non-initial syllables. These varying duration shades are found to result in four distinct rhythmic types. These types are described through rhythmic schemes, with the duration ratio of the first to the second vowel ranging from 0.82:1 (short vowel – full vowel) to 2.4:1 (long vowel – reduced vowel).