Voice

About: Voice is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2393 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56637 citations.

Phonetic and phonological properties of tones in Shanghai Chinese

Abstract: This study investigates the relations between tone, voicing, and voice quality in modern Shanghai Chinese. In low tone syllables, word-initial obstruent onsets are traditionally described as voiceless and breathy, and sonorant onsets as voiced and breathy.Our study is based on acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) data from speakers of two age groups (20–30 vs. 60–80 years). Our results are globally in line with previous studies, but with notable differences. In low tone syllables, while word-initial stops are phonetically voiceless most of the time, fricatives are quite often phonetically voiced. While low tone obstruent onsets are followed by breathier vowels than high tone onsets, this pattern is not clear-cut for nasal onsets. Furthermore, our transversal data show that low tone breathiness is more systematically produced by elderly – especially male – speakers, rather than young speakers, suggesting an on-going change towards the loss of breathiness.

Exceptions to Final Devoicing

Abstract: Some dialects of Dutch show systematic exceptions to final devoicing in the first person singular of verbs ending in a long or tense vowel and a fricative. This observation raises questions about the morphology – what makes the first person singular of verbs so special? –, and about the phonology – what makes fricatives after long vowels so special? As to the morphological side of things, this paper argues that the first person singular suffix, which used to be a schwa, is still present as an abstract vocalic position. From the phonological point of view, I argue that Dutch fricatives have a phonological length contrast rather than a voicing contrast. Since (empty) syllabic positions and consonant length both are expressed in the phonotactic dimension, it is expected that they interact.

Durational Characteristics of Hindi Stop Consonants

Abstract: A study of the durational characteristics of Hindi stop consonants in spoken sentences was carried out. An annotated and time-aligned Hindi speech database was used in the experiment. The influences of aspiration, voicing and gemination on the durations of closure and post-release segments of plosives as well as the duration of the preceding vowel were studied. It was observed that the post-release duration of a plosive changes systematically with manner of articulation. However, due to its large variation in continuous speech, the post-release duration alone is not sufficient to identify the manner of articulation of Hindi stops as hypothesised in earlier studies. A low value of the ratio of the duration of a vowel to the closure duration of the following plosive is a reliable indicator of gemination in Hindi stop consonants in continuous speech.

Speech characteristics of Arabic speakers : dialect variations

Abstract: Arabic is spoken by more than 280 million people around the world and has been subject to attention in a number of acoustic phonetic studies. However, there are a limited number of studies on Gulf Arabic dialects and the majority of these studies have focused mainly on male speakers. Therefore, this study aimed to explore two Gulf Arabic dialects, the central Najdi dialect from Saudi Arabia and the Bahraini Bahraini dialect from Bahrain. It aimed to establish normative data for the Diadochokinetic Rate (DDK), Voice Onset Time (VOT), Fundamental Frequency (F0) and Formant Frequencies (F1-F3) for male (n = 40) and female (n = 40) speakers from both dialects. Furthermore, it aimed to investigate whether there are differences between the two dialects. Another direction of the research was to examine whether differences between male and female speech will be evident in both dialects. The study was accomplished using different stimuli where the monosyllables /ba, da, ga/ and a multisyllabic sequence /badaga/ were selected to analyse the DDK rates. VOT duration was examined in monosyllablic minimal pair words containing the initial voiced stops /b, d/ and the three long vowels /a:, i:, u:/, and in words containing the initial voiceless stops /t, k/, initial voiced/voiceless stops /d, t/ and plain/emphatic alveolar stops /t, t*/ and the two long vowels /i:, u:/. F0 was examined in the sustained phonation of the /a, i, u/, vowels in the words presented earlier and in sentences from the Arabic version of “The North Wind and the Sun” (Thelwall & Sa’Adeddin, 1990) and two verses from the first chapter of the Quran. F1, F2 and F3 values were examined in the sustained phonation of individual vowels and in vowels in the words described earlier. Acoustic analysis was carried out by using Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2013). A series of mixed model ANOVAs were performed to investigate dialect and sex differences for each of the parameters. Dialect and sex were the main independent variables; however, additional variables were assessed (syllable type, voicing, vowel context, place of articulation and emphasis). The first aim has been met, with normative data being established for males and females from both dialects. The results showed that for each of the parameters (DDK, VOT, F0 and formant frequencies), the dialect differences as well as the degree of differences were dependent on the stimuli type. Furthermore, sex differences were apparent for F0, F1, F2 and F3 where males had lower frequencies than females in all tasks. In addition, the results showed that females had longer VOT durations than males for voiceless stops; and in the initial emphatic /t≥/ context; males had longer VOT duration than females. However, there were no differences between male and female speakers with regard to the DDK rates, and in the VOT analysis, initial voiced stops did not show an effect for dialect and sex. Furthermore, the impact of other variables other than dialect and sex are discussed. In conclusion, dialect, and to a lesser extent, sex differences in the Arabic dialects under study, are dependent on the stimulus type. The study also showed that emphatic /t*/ might help in differentiating between different Arabic dialects.