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Is fundamental frequency a cue to aspiration in initial stops?
Alexander L Francis1, Valter Ciocca, Virginia Ka Man Wong
1Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. francisa@purdue.edu
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|December 2, 2006
Summary
Cantonese speakers minimally alter fundamental frequency (f0) after consonant voicing onset, unlike English speakers. Listeners use f0 differences for voicing perception, but require larger changes than produced, suggesting audition, not language, drives this effect.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics
- Speech Perception
- Linguistics
Background:
- Consonant voicing impacts fundamental frequency (f0) in non-tonal languages.
- Tonal languages like Cantonese have constrained f0 variability due to lexical tones.
- Theories suggest f0 effects are automatic (production) or controlled (perception cue enhancement).
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate consonant voicing and onset f0 interaction in Cantonese.
- Examine how tonal constraints affect f0 production and perception.
- Test theories of automatic vs. controlled f0 effects.
Main Methods:
- Production experiment: Measured onset f0 in Cantonese consonants.
- Perception experiment: Assessed Cantonese listeners' use of onset f0 for voicing contrast.
- Compared production and perception f0 effects with non-tonal languages.
Main Results:
- Cantonese consonant aspiration affected onset f0 only within the first 10 ms.
- Cantonese listeners used onset f0 for voicing perception, but required greater f0 perturbation than produced.
- Required f0 perturbation was comparable to non-tonal languages.
Conclusions:
- Consonantal effects on onset f0 in Cantonese are partially controlled by speakers.
- The role of f0 in voicing perception may stem from universal auditory properties.
- Listener perception relies on language-independent auditory mechanisms rather than specific phonological experience.
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