Formant frequencies in Estonian folk singing

Area of Science:

• Phonetics
• Acoustic analysis
• Ethnomusicology

Background:

• Vowel formant frequencies are crucial for speech and singing intelligibility.
• Vowel clustering in the F1/F2 plane has been observed in trained singers, particularly at higher fundamental frequencies.
• Estonian folk music and dialects may exhibit unique phonetic characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze formant frequencies of specific vowels (/a/, /u/, /e/, /i/) in an old Estonian folk song.
• To compare these vocalic formant frequencies with those of spoken Estonian.
• To investigate potential reasons for observed vowel clustering, including dialectal features and singing techniques.

Main Methods:

• Acoustic analysis of recorded Estonian folk song performed by two female voices.
• Estimation of formant frequencies (F1, F2) for back vowels /a/, /u/ and front vowels /e/, /i/.
• Comparison of estimated formant frequencies with established data for spoken Estonian vowels.

Main Results:

• Vowels in the folk song tended to cluster into distinct front and back sets in the F1/F2 plane.
• This clustering was observed independently of fundamental frequency.
• No acoustic evidence for the presence of a "singer's formant" was detected.

Conclusions:

• The observed vowel clustering in Estonian folk singing may be influenced by dialectal pronunciation, specifically diphthongization tendencies in North-Estonian coastal dialects.
• The findings suggest that phonetic characteristics of regional dialects can impact vowel production in traditional singing styles.
• Further research is needed to differentiate between dialectal influences and general singing-related vocal tract modifications.