Special issue of Pawari
Shodh Patrika
Acoustic Distance Modeling of Pawari
(Bhoyari) Vowels:
A
Formant-Based Phonetic Analysis of Satpuda Pawari (Bhoyari)
Paper AS-3 | Satpuda Pawari
(Bhoyari) Linguistic Research Series
10.5281/zenodo.21602847
Target Journal: Journal
of Phonetics · Phonetica · Journal of the IPA · Speech Communication
Primary Corpus: Satpuda Pawari
(Bhoyari) — Betul
All Pawari (Bhoyari)
data from authenticated Satpuda corpus. No external Pawari (Bhoyari) data
introduced.
Author
Rajesh Barange Pawar
Independent
Researcher | Bhoyari / Pawari Language Researcher | Pawar Bhoyar Community
History | Rajasthan Malwa Satpuda Regional Studies
Founder
& Director – Maa Tapti Shodh Sansthan, Multai, Betul | Chief Editor –
Pawari Shodh Patrika
Pranay Chopde &
Rajesh Bobde Pawar
Independent
Researcher | Pawar Community History | Rajasthan Malwa Satpuda Regional Studies
Co-Founder–
Maa Tapti Shodh Sansthan, Multai, Betul | Editor – Pawari Shodh Patrika
Published by
Maa Tapti Shodh Sansthan,
Multai, Betul, Madhya Pradesh
About the Authors
Rajesh Barange Pawar
Independent Researcher
| Pawari (Bhoyari) Language Researcher | Pawar Community History | Rajasthan
Malwa Satpuda Regional Studies
Founder & Director
– Maa Tapti Shodh Sansthan, Multai, Betul | Chief Editor – Pawari Shodh Patrika
Rajesh Barange Pawar researches
Pawari (Bhoyari) language, Pawar community history, the 72 gotras of the Pawar
community, and the cultural traditions of the Satpuda region. His work also
explores the historical connections
between the Pawar Sangh (Parmar/Panwar) lineage of Malwa and Rajputana and
their migration and settlement in Betul and surrounding Satpuda regions,
including traditions associated with Maa Tapti.
🌐 Blog: https://rajeshbarange.blogspot.com/
🌐 Pawari Shodh Patrika: https://sites.google.com/view/pawarishodhpatrika/home
📧 Email: rajeshbarange00@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This study presents the first systematic acoustic phonetic analysis of
the vowel system of Pawari (Bhoyari) using formant-based modelling. Speech
samples were elicited from eight native speakers of the Satpuda Zone (Betul region),
and vowel formants F1 and F2 were extracted at the steady-state midpoint of
each vowel token using Praat-based LPC formant tracking. Raw Hz values were
normalized to Bark scale to reduce cross-speaker variation attributable to
vocal tract length differences. Four complementary analytical frameworks were
applied: (1) Euclidean acoustic distance modeling in normalized Bark space to
quantify internal vowel dispersion and cross-dialect phonetic proximity; (2)
covariance matrix analysis of F1–F2 co-variation to model vowel space geometry;
(3) Linear Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) to assess the statistical
separability of vowel categories; and (4) Mahalanobis distance modeling to
compute variance-weighted inter-vowel distances that account for the shape and
orientation of vowel clouds. Results across all four frameworks converge on the
same conclusion: Pawari (Bhoyari) possesses a stable seven-vowel system /i e ə
a ɔ o u/ with clear height-backness separation, high internal dispersion (VDI =
4.21 Bark units; ADI = 4.83), and strong preservation of Western Indo-Aryan
triangular vowel geometry. Pawari (Bhoyari) vowel space exhibits high acoustic
proximity to Malvi and Rangdi (Euclidean cross-dialect distance: D ≈ 0.12 and
0.18 Bark respectively) and significant divergence from Bundeli centralization
patterns (D ≈ 0.61). Discriminant Function Analysis achieves an overall
classification accuracy of 94.1% using only F1 and F2, confirming strong
phonemic distinctiveness across vowel categories. Mahalanobis distance modeling
confirms three natural vowel clusters mirroring the Western Indo-Aryan
typological pattern. Together, these results provide quantitative acoustic
evidence supporting the macro-family placement of Pawari (Bhoyari) within the
Western Indo-Aryan phonetic continuum, corroborating the lexical,
morphological, and prosodic evidence presented in Papers AS-1 and AS-2.
Keywords: acoustic
phonetics, formant analysis, Pawari (Bhoyari), Satpuda Pawari (Bhoyari),
Western Indo-Aryan, vowel system, F1 F2, Praat, Bark normalization, Euclidean
distance, Mahalanobis distance, discriminant function analysis, covariance
matrix, dialect classification
for full article click on Download link https://www.academia.edu/170722901/Acoustic_Distance_Modeling_of_Pawari_Bhoyari_Vowels_A_Formant_Based_Phonetic_Analysis_of_Satpuda_Pawari_Bhoyari_Rajesh_Barange_Pawar
