A Praat-Based Study on the Vowel Features in Chongqing Hip-Hop Lyrics

Chongqing dialect, having experienced the waves of ethnic migration, has given birth to distinctive linguistic features. Since the 1980s, academic research on the Chongqing dialect has gradually increased. However, most studies have only scratched the surface in terms of vocabulary, semantics, and phonological characteristics, with few attempts to delve into its internal phonetic structure. This study addresses this gap by using Praat software and theories of tongue position and formants to analyze rhyme vowels in Chongqing hip-hop lyrics. It examines formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3), pitch, and duration of vowels from local hip-hop artists' works. Results reveal that these vowels have distinct regional acoustic characteristics, differing from standard Mandarin, with lower formant frequencies aligning with the dialect's low-pitched nature. In addition, the study confirmed the phonetic changes that occurred in the 1970s, such as /ɤ/ → /ɛ/, /aʊ/, /uɔ/. This research enriches our understanding of Chongqing dialect's acoustic features and offers new insights for interdisciplinary studies in dialect phonetics and music linguistics.