Some Acoustic Differences among Languages

Hanley, T. D.; Snidecor, John C.; Ringel, Robert L.

doi:10.1159/000258520

Cited by 34 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…In particular, the linguistic measures used in this study highlighted differences in the realization of tones at different points in the intonation contour, alongside some differences in the typical frequency of distribution of tones. That is, our results show that f0 range is influenced by the phonological and=or phonetic conventions of the language being spoken and is not solely an artifact of physiological factors or cultural differences, as often assumed (e.g., Altenberg and Ferrand, 2006;Dolson, 1994;Hanley, Snidecor, and Ringel, 1967;Keating and Kuo, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…If these measures are capable of characterizing crossspeaker differences, and if some of them, at least, draw on language-specific intonational landmarks, then they may be well-placed for helping to understand the basis of crosslanguage differences in f0 range which have occasionally surfaced in the literature (e.g., Altenberg and Ferrand, 2006;Dolson, 1994;Hanley, Snidecor, and Ringel, 1967;Keating and Kuo, 2010;Majewski, Hollien, and Zalewski, 1972). In the absence of organic factors which could potentially be the source of such differences (e.g., body size or race-based vocal tract differences, Awan and Mueller, 1996), investigators have attributed cross-language differences to either linguistic or cultural factors, but there has been little attempt to characterize the phonetic basis of these differences (Deutsch et al, 2009) nor to question the suitability of the f0 measures used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As they were unable to find a significant relation between mean f0 and body size of their subjects, they concluded that "possibly the differences between the two groups relate to crosscultural factors" (p. 119), but that "the reasons for such differences are not clear" (p. 124). Most other studies (e.g., Altenberg and Ferrand, 2006;Hanley et al, 1967) have adopted similar measures of mean=median f0 (and on occasion f0 standard deviation) as uncontroversial measures, capable of characterizing f0 range differences across languages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: A comparison of English and German

Mennen

Schaeffler

Docherty

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

131

116

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This paper presents a systematic comparison of various measures of f0 range in female speakers of English and German. F0 range was analyzed along two dimensions, level (i.e., overall f0 height) and span (extent of f0 modulation within a given speech sample). These were examined using two types of measures, one based on “long-term distributional” (LTD) methods, and the other based on specific landmarks in speech that are linguistic in nature (“linguistic” measures). The various methods were used to identify whether and on what basis or bases speakers of these two languages differ in f0 range. Findings yielded significant cross-language differences in both dimensions of f0 range, but effect sizes were found to be larger for span than for level, and for linguistic than for LTD measures. The linguistic measures also uncovered some differences between the two languages in how f0 range varies through an intonation contour. This helps shed light on the relation between intonational structure and f0 range.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: A comparison of English and German

Mennen

Schaeffler

Docherty

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

131

116

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“…The differential placement ofthe referent relative to the template for subjects with Californian and southern English modes of responding represents another geographical correlate of envelopes than those generated under the higher ones. These hypotheses were based on reported speech characteristics ofa low pitch range for Californian speech (Hanley, Snidecor, & Ringel, 1966) and high pitch excursions for British English speech (Collier, 1991;Willems, Collier, & 't Hart, 1988). Following the procedure employed by Deutsch (1994b), we divided the preadaptation data on the basis of tones generated under the high (C, and F#s) and low (C 4 and F#4) spectral envelopes.…”

Section: Preadaptation Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral-motion aftereffects and the tritone paradox among Canadian subjects

Dawe

Platt

Welsh

1998

Perception & Psychophysics

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The effect of spectral motion on the tritone paradox was investigated by pretesting subjects residing in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the tritone task, presenting them with a continuous ascending or descending chromatic scale created using Shepard tones, and then retesting them on the tritone task. Results indicated a negative-motion aftereffect that affected the orientation of the pitch class circle. Differential effects of perceived pitch height on the lower portion of the pitch class circle and of adaptation on the upper portion of the pitch class circle were found in the pre-and postadaptation data, respectively. The implications of this dissociation are discussed. In addition, since our subjects lived relatively close to the U.S. border, the experimental pretests allowed us to examine the hypothesis that a canonical American pitch template similar to that found among "Californian" subjects (Deutsch, 1991) is propagated by linguistic influences of media such as television and radio (Ragozzine & Deutsch, 1994). A survey of our subjects indicated that overall, the majority of time engaged in listening to the radio and watching television or movies was spent with American sources. Despite this, and despite the fact that subjects had widely varying language and cultural backgrounds, a tight distribution of peak-pitch classes was found that is indicative of a "British" pitch template (Deutsch, 1991) for every subject tested.For more than 30 years, researchers have made use of specially designed complex harmonic tones in their investigations of different perceptual attributes associated with tonal relationships (Shepard, 1964). In these Shepard tones, adjacent partials are spaced at octave intervals and then filtered through a constant spectral envelope. Shepard tones are useful as stimuli in many psychoacoustic investigations because they ambiguate pitch height while maintaining the chroma of the tone being played. For example, repetitively playing the same 12 chromatic tones spanning an octave will create an illusion of a continuous ascending or descending pitch sequence, depending on whether one plays the chromatic series as ascending or descending, respectively ( Figure IA).Playing pairs ofsuch tones will create the perception of an ascending or descending interval on the basis of pitch proximity. Ifthe second tone is less than halfan octave (an interval called the "tritone") above the first, one typically perceives an ascending interval, whereas if the interval is greater than the tritone, one perceives it as descendingThe authors are grateful to 1. Visser for her assistance in running subjects, A. Cohen for providing information regarding an unpublished study, and K. Kewish, D. Deutsch, B. Repp, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. This research was supported by grants to L

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“…Only a few authors have been concerned with individuals from other cultures and/or races [Hanley et al, 1966;Hanley and Snidecor. 1967;Majewski et al, 1972;Loveday, 1981;Mack, 1984;Vance, 1986].…”

Section: Cross-linguistic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speaking Fundamental Frequency Patterns of Japanese Women

Yamazawa

Hollien

1992

Phonetica

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The purpose of this research was to obtain information on the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) mean levels, variability and patterns of Japanese females and contrast them with those of Caucasian speakers of American English. To this end, 56 young women – 32 Japanese and 24 Americans – read standard passages in either or both the Japanese and English languages. It was found that the Japanese exhibited higher fundamental frequencies than did the Americans for all speaking conditions, and this contrast was statistically significant. Additionally -and unlike the American speakers – most Japanese women exhibited bimodal SFF distribution patterns. It is judged that the observed differences in level and distribution result primarily from differences in the structure of the two languages.

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Some Acoustic Differences among Languages

Cited by 34 publications

References 0 publications

Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: A comparison of English and German

Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: A comparison of English and German

Spectral-motion aftereffects and the tritone paradox among Canadian subjects

Speaking Fundamental Frequency Patterns of Japanese Women

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