Chapter One： Introduction 1.1 General theoretical background of vowel production 1.2 Purpose and the scope of this study 1.3 Introduction of Ningbo Chinese 1.4 Outline of the study Chapter Two： The acoustic phonetic values of the Ningbo vowels 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Methodology 2.2.1 Test material 2.2.2 Speakers and recording 2.2.3 Data analysis 2.3 Results and discussion 2.3.1 Results and discussion of the Ningbo normal—length vowels 2.3.1.1 An overview 2.3.1.2 Vowel height 2.3.1.3 Vowel backness 2.3.1.4 Lip rounding 2.3.2 Results of the Ningbo short vowels 2.3.3 Acoustic characteristics of the Ningbo apical vowels 2.3.4 Vowel normalization and discussion on the sex difference 2.4 Conclusion Chapter Three： An acoustic phonetic analysis of the Ningbo diphthongs and triphthong 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Methodology 3.2.1 Test material 3.2.2 Speakers and recording 3.2.3 Data analysis 3.3 Results and discussion 3.3.1 Duration results and discussion 3.3.2 Spectral results and discussion 3.3.3 Dynamic aspects 3.4 Conclusion and general discussion Chapter Four： An articulatory analysis of the Ningbo vowels 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Methodology 4.2.1 Speakers and test material 4.2.2 Equipment 4.2.3 Procedures 4.2.4 Analysis 4.3 Results and discussion 4.3.1 Lingual configurations of the Ningbo normal—length vowels 4.3.2 A PARAFAC modeling 4.3.3 Jaw opening and its coordination with tongue movements 4.3.4 Lip rounding 4.3.5 Articulatory characteristics of the Ningbo short vowels 4.3.6 Articulation of the Ningbo apical vowels 4.4 Conclusion Chapter Five： An artieulatory analysis of the Ningbo diphthongs and triphthong 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 Speakers and test material 5.2.2 Equipment and procedures 5.2.3 Analysis 5.3 Results and discussion 5.3.1 Diphthong targets and their movement 5.3.1.1 Articulation of the falling diphthongs A.Diphthong （ai） B.Diphthong （au） C.Diphthong （cey） A Summary of the articulation for the falling Diphthongs in Ningbo 5.3.1.2 Articulation of the rising diphthongs D.Diphthong （ia） E.Diphthong （ie？） F.Diphthong （io） G.Diphthong （yo？） H.Diphthong （ua） I.Diphthong （ua？） J.Diphthong （ue） A Summary of the articulation for the rising diphthongs in Ningbo A Summary of the diphthong production in Ningbo 5.3.1.3 Articulation of the triphthong 5.3.2 Articulator kinematics of the diphthongs 5.3.2.1 Average velocity 5.3.2.2 Peak velocity and the time to peak velocity 5.4 Conclusion Chapter Six： Acoustic， artieulatory， and aerodynamic aspects of the nasal vowels and vowel nasalization in Ningbo Chinese 6.1 Introduciton 6.2 The acoustic and articulatory studies 6.2.1 Procedures 6.2.2 Results and discussion 6.2.2.1 Spectral results 6.2.2.2 The articulatory configurations of the nasal vowels 6.2.3 Summary 6.3 The aerodynamic study 6.3.1 Methodological considerations 6.3.2 Procedures 6.3.3 Results and discussion 6.3.3.I The temporal structure of the nasal vowels and vowel nasalization 6.3.3.2 Nasality of the nasal vowels and vowel Nasalization in Ningbo 6.3.4 Summary 6.4 Conclusion Chapter Seven： Conclusion and general discussion 7.1 Vowel features from the acoustic， articulatory， and aerodynamic perspectives 7.1.1 Vowel height and vowel backness 7.1.2 Lip rounding 7.1.3 Nasality 7.1.4 Duration 7.1.5 Apical vowels 7.2 Articulation and acoustics of diphthongs 7.3 General discussion of the articualtory—to—acoustic relations References Appendix Ⅰ： Ningbo Vowel formant data Appendix Ⅱ： Ningbo diphthong formant data Appendix Ⅲ： Ningbo triphthong formant data Appendix Ⅳ： The articulatory data for the Ningbo diphthongs Appendix Ⅴ： The artieulatory data for the Ningbo triphthong 后记
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Meanwhile, a comparison of the data for the female and male speakers in the figures and table shows that there are obvious differences in the formant value and the ellipse position between the two speaker groups as well.Due to the physiological differences, formant values are usually greater for female speakers than for male speakers.As a result, the vowel ellipses for the female speakers occupy much larger spaces than those for the male speakers in the acoustic vowel plane.In other words, the vowel ellipses for the female speakers have a more peripheral distribution.Along the F1 dimension, the ellipses for the non-high vowels are much lower for the female speakers than for the male speakers.For instance, the F1 value of the females (e) is 168 Hz larger than the males, and is even larger than the males (ε).Interestingly the high vowels show little differences in F1 or vowel height between the females and males.Along the F2 dimension, all the vowel ellipses for the females are located toward the left lower corner in the acoustic vowel plane, since all the vowels have a greater F2 value for the female speakers than for the male speakers.However, it should be pointed out that the F2 difference is greater for the front vowels than for the back vowels; for instance, the F2 difference for (ε) between the female and male speakers is 398 Hz, whereas the F2 difference for (c) is merely 150Hz between the female and male speakers.A detailed interpretation of the formant value differences between the female and male speakers will be presented in 2.3.4. Figures 2.5a-2.5t show the data points and ellipses for the 10 normal-length vowels in the F1/F2 plane for each individual Ningbo speaker.As can be seen from the figures, the vowel ellipses in each individual speaker basically display a pattern similar to that in the pooled data, though the differences in the spacing of the vowel ellipses is quite obvious among individual speakers.
