Central vowels in Central Arrernte: A spectrographic study of a small vowel system

►Duration and formant data are presented for the central vowels /ə/ and /ɐ/ in Arrernte. ►Results show that the contrast exists only in word-medial position. ►/ə/ is not affected by metrical stress; /ɐ/ may be lower and longer under stress. ►/ə/ is more affected by consonant context than is /ɐ/. ►These vowels' primary role is to carry cues to consonant place of articulation.