Voice register in Mon: experiments in production and perception.

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Phonetics
• Acoustic Phonetics

Background:

• Register languages exhibit complex phonetic contrasts.
• Mon, an Austroasiatic language, is a prototypical register language with debated acoustic properties.
• Previous research lacks perceptual studies on Mon register cues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To acoustically analyze register differentiation in Burma Mon.
• To investigate the perceptual relevance of acoustic properties for Mon register contrast.
• To explore individual variation in register production and perception.

Main Methods:

• Functional principal component analysis of acoustic and electroglottographic data from 17 Burma Mon speakers.
• Forced-choice identification study to assess listener sensitivity to phonetic cues.

Main Results:

• Registers in Mon are primarily differentiated by covarying fundamental frequency (f0) and voice quality.
• Listeners are sensitive to these phonetic properties, with f0 being the most robust perceptual cue.
• Individual variation exists in both production and perception, without a direct correlation.

Conclusions:

• Fundamental frequency is a salient cue for register in Burma Mon, likely reflecting a broader laryngeal configuration.
• The findings contribute to understanding register systems in tonal and non-tonal languages.
• Acoustic and perceptual data reveal the complex nature of phonetic realization in Mon register.