Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russian Federation
This paper presents a structural-taxonomic classification of complex long vowels. The classification is formulated based on articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual criteria. The experimental dataset includes information from multiple languages: Turkic (Tuvan, Shor), Tungusic (Udege), Finno-Ugric (Surgut Khanty), alongside the isolated Odul, Chinese (Sino-Tibetan family, third tone), and Russian (Indo-European family, Slavic group). Two main subgroups of complex long vowels are distinguished: two-component (diphthongs, duphons, diphthongoids, and fusional vowels) and three-component (interrupted vowels). The classification follows the principle of increasing internal structural complexity alongside the degree of component fusion. The following characteristics are taken into account: quantitative duration parameters (absolute syllable duration, mean sound duration, absolute and relative vowel duration), formant characteristics (F1, F2), intensity dynamics, and fundamental frequency (f0). The study establishes that vowel length is not an independent feature but a derivative of internal articulatory-acoustic inhomogeneity. Furthermore, it proposes a unified gradation scale for speech signal intensity (ranging from “very weak” to “extra strong”) and refines the formula for calculating relative sound duration. The concept of contrastive length is introduced to describe cases in which vowel auditory distinction is attained through a duration variation of less than a factor of two in the ultra-short versus short opposition. Emphasis is placed on the V-shaped f0 modulation in Chinese and Tuvan, identified as a typologically rare phenomenon. The findings of the study contribute to the typology of vocalism and can be applied in automatic speech recognition systems.
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