Quantitative Characteristics of Tuvan Vowels: Positional Variation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.2.8Keywords:
Tuvan language, vocalism, quantitative characteristic of vowel, long vowel, positional length, experimental phoneticsAbstract
The article identifies the principles governing the realization of positional variation of Tuvan vowels in terms of duration parameters in bisyllabic word forms with a heterogeneous vocalic axis (wide vs. narrow vowel). Based on experimental phonetic material (750 audio files of word forms of varying length and structure — bisyllables, trisyllables, and tetrasyllables), it has been established that the complex vowel system of the Tuvan language, structured by oppositions in qualitative features (backness, height, rounding, presence/absence of pharyngealization) and quantitative features (shortness vs. length), falls within the distribution area of so-called positional vowel length.
The phenomenon of positional lengthening of (relatively) wider vowels in an open syllable in preposition to a (relatively) narrower vowel of the following syllable, separated by an intervocalic voiced or low-noise monoconsonant, is attested in the South Siberian Turkic languages alongside general phonetic patterns of vowel quantity redistribution correlated with syllable openness/closedness, syllable position within the word, and word length. Instrumental data made it possible to identify various stages in the formation of this pattern in the Tuvan language.
The results of the study reveal, on the one hand, a common direction in phonetic transformations across the South Siberian Turkic languages, and, on the other hand, significant differences in the degree and rate of these transformations. While in most languages — Khakas, Shor, Kumandin, Tubalar, Chalkan, and Altai — the phenomenon under consideration shows a pronounced manifestation, in Tuvan the process remains at an earlier stage, already passed by the contact South Siberian Turkic languages. Different stages of a unified process are thus attested across these languages.
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For citation:
Dambyra I. D., Dobrynina A. A., Kechil-ool S. V., Saaya O.M. and Selyutina I. Ya. Quantitative Characteristics of Tuvan Vowels: Positional Variation. New Research of Tuva, 2026, no. 2, pp. 108-126. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.2.8
Author Biographies
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Irina D. Dambyra Tuvan State University
Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Faculty of Philology, Tuvan State University.
Postal address: 9B Mongusha Sata St., 667010, Kyzyl, Russian Federation.
E-mail: oduchpa@mail.ru
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Albina A. Dobrynina Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Candidate of Phililogy, Research fellow, V. M. Nadeleyev Laboratory of Experimental Phonetic Research, Department of Languages of Peoples of Siberia, Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Postal address: 8 Nikolayeva St., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia.
E-mail: ekinur@mail.ru
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Saida V. Kechil-ool Tuvan State University
Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and Methodology of Language Education and Speech Therapy at the Kyzyl Pedagogical Institute on People's writer of the Republic of Tuva A. A. Darzhay, Tuvan State University.
Postal address: 9B, Mongusha Sata St., 667010, Kyzyl, Russian Federation.
E-mail: saida.kechilool@mail.ru
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Oyuma M. Saaya Tuvan Institute for Humanities and Applied Socio-Economic Research under the Government of the Republic of Tuv
Candidate of Philology, Leading Researcher, Department of Dictionary Research Group, Tuvan Institute of Humanities and Applied Social and Economic Research under the Government of the Republic of Tuva.
Postal address: 4 Kochetova St., 667000, Kyzyl, Russian Federation.
E-mail: yu5bi@mail.ru
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Iraida Ya. Selyutina Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Principal Researcher, V. M. Nadeleyev Laboratory of Experimental Phonetic Research, Department of Languages of Peoples of Siberia, Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Postal address: 8 Nikolayeva St., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia.
E-mail: siya_irina@mail.ru
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