An acoustic analysis of St. Lawrence Island Yupik vowels

St. Lawrence Island Yupik (ISO 639-3 ess; henceforth Yupik) is an endangered language spoken by 800–900 speakers in Alaska and Russia (Schwartz et al., 2020). Minimal research has been conducted on Yupik phonology, with its vowel inventory being impressionistically described as consisting of seven vowel phonemes: /i/, /i:/, /a/, /a:/, /u/, /u:/, and // (e.g., Krauss, 1975). We present the first known acoustic examination of Yupik vowels, using data from four native speakers. Materials included words beginning with the seven previously reported vowel phonemes followed by an obstruent varying in its place of articulation (labial, coronal, velar, uvular). Statistical analyses on duration and formant frequencies were combined with visualizations of the vowel space using normalized F1-F2. The findings largely aligned with previous descriptions of the seven vowel phonemes, with the phonemic length distinction primarily realized in duration. We furthermore found that the mid-vowels were mostly reduced (shorter in duration and often devoiced) in word-initial position; /i/, /i:/, and /e/ were backed and lowered when followed by a uvular obstruent; and non-front vowels were fronted in the coronal environment. The current findings suggest potential undocumented vowel allophonies in Yupik, including co-articulatory assimilation as well as vowel reduction.