Table of Contents

1. Creating, editing and viewing vowels and formant pairs
2. Plotting formants
3. Using your plot
4. Opening/saving formant pair sets
5. Practical tips

Manual

1. Creating, editing and viewing vowels and formant pairs
   
   
   • Creating a vowel:
   
   In the File menu, select Enter/edit formant pairs, then click on Create new vowel in the editing window. Enter formant frequencies and click on Accept. You can enter as many formant pairs as you want. Click Create new vowel to enter formants for a new vowel, and Done when you are done entering formants.
   • Modifying a vowel description:
   
   In the File menu, select Enter/edit formant pairs. If there are vowels in memory, they will appear in the list at the top of the editing window. Click once on the vowel whose description you want to modify. Modify the description and/or symbol and click on Accept.
   • Editing formant pairs for a vowel:
   
   In the File menu, select Enter/edit formant pairs, then click on the vowel you wish to edit in the list at the top of editing window. Click on the vowel whose formant pairs you wish to edit, select a formant pair in the box at the bottom of the window, and click on Edit selected formant pair. Enter the changes in formant frequencies, then click on Accept.
   • Viewing formant pairs in memory:
   
   In the File menu, select Show formants in memory. This will open a window showing all the vowels in memory and the formant pairs associated with each of the vowels.
   • Deleting formant pairs for a vowel:
   
   In the File menu, select Enter/edit formant pairs. If there are vowels in memory, they will appear in the list at the top of the editing window. Click once on the vowel whose formant pairs you wish to delete, select a formant pair in the box at the bottom of the window, and click on Delete selected formant pair.
   • Deleting a vowel:
   
   In the File menu, select Enter/edit formant pairs. If there are vowels in memory, they will appear in the list at the top of the editing window. Click once on the vowel you wish to delete, and then click on Delete selected formant pair.

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2. Plotting formants
   
   
   • Plotting formant pairs in memory:
   
   In the Plot menu, select Plot current set. This option is not available if there are no formant pairs in memory.
   • Setting plot options:
   
   In the Plot menu, select Plot options. All numerical values are checked and automatically replaced by default values if they exceed a sensible range. Click on the Reset default values button to use the default settings (Note: only the settings on the visible pane are reset by this button).
   • Plot options:
     • Min/max F1/F2: Set the minimum and maximum frequencies for the F1 and F2 axes.
     • F1/F2 step: Set the spacing between the tick marks on the F1 and F2 axes.
     • Plot width/height: Set the width and height of the plot in pixels.
     • Plot title: Sets an optional title which will be displayed below the plot.
     • Draw grid: If this option is selected, a grid is drawn on the plot pane.
     • Draw neither points nor symbols: Individual formants will not be displayed.
     • Draw symbols: Each formant pair for a given vowel will be represented by the symbol entered for that vowel. If no symbol has been entered, a point will be drawn instead.
     • Draw points: Each formant pair will be represented by a point in one of four possible sizes.
     • Point size: Sets the size of the points representing each formant pair.
     • Draw in color: If this option is selected, each vowel's formants are plotted in a different color (up to 8 colors).
     If more than 8 vowels must be plotted, the (n+8)th vowel is the same color as the nth vowel.
     • Draw ellipses: If this option is selected, an ellipse is drawn enclosing each vowel's formant plot.
     • Draw SD bars: If this option is selected, standard deviation bars are drawn.
     • Draw mean: If this option is selected, the mean of each vowel's formants is drawn.
     • Draw blob at mean: If Draw mean is checked, a blob is drawn at the mean of each vowel's formant plot.
     • Draw large symbol at mean: If Draw mean is checked, each vowel's symbol is drawn at the mean of the vowel's formant plot in large font. If no symbol is available, a large blob is drawn instead.

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3. Using your plot
   
   
   • Print:
   
   In the Plot menu, select Plot current set to plot the formant pairs in memory, then click on Print at the bottom of the plot window.
   • Save as JPEG:
   
   In the Plot menu, select Plot current set to plot the formant pairs in memory, then click on Save as JPEG at the bottom of the plot window.

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4. Opening/saving formant pair sets
   
   
   • Opening a formant pair set:
   
   In the File menu, select Open formant pair set. Select the file you want to open in the dialog that appears.
   • Saving a formant pair set:
   
   In the File menu, select Save formant pair set as.... Enter a file name in the dialog that appears, and then click Save or press Enter.

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5. Practical tips
   
   
   • Creating a vowel:
   
   If there is no existing vowel in the vowel list, you can simply enter a vowel description and formant frequencies. A new vowel with the description and symbol you entered will be created automatically when you click on Accept.
   • Modifying a vowel description:
   
   You can modify a vowel's description and symbol at any time while you are entering formant pairs for that vowel. Simply modify the current description and/or symbol, and click Accept to save the changes.
   • Switching between vowels:
   
   If there are more than one vowel in memory, you can switch from one to another simply by clicking on the description of the vowel you want to edit in the list at the top of the editing window at any time.
   • I can't plot!
   
   If the Plot current set option in the Plot menu is not available, that's because there are no formant pairs in memory. Please create a vowel so you can plot its formants.

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