Comparing fundamental frequency of German vowels produced by German native speakers and Mandarin Chinese learners

This study compared the f₀ of 14 German vowels in monosyllabic words (/dVt/) embedded in carrier sentences produced by 30 native speakers and 30 Mandarin Chinese learners. Appropriate techniques were employed to robustly measure f₀ values and reliably analyze f₀ profiles. The results showed that Mandarin learners produced the vowels bearing sentence stress with significantly larger f₀ ranges and steeper f₀ slopes but comparable f₀ mean and maximum in comparison to German natives. Moreover, lax vowels produced by both groups demonstrated narrower ranges with faster f₀ changes than tense vowels, which was stronger for Mandarin learners.