Acoustic Distance Modeling of Pawari (Bhoyari) Vowels: A Formant-Based Phonetic Analysis of Satpuda Pawari (Bhoyari) : Rajesh Barange Pawar

 

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