Speaking a foreign language and its effect on F0

Abstract This study investigated whether speaking a foreign language affects the fundamental frequency (F0) of speech in 16 native Finnish and 14 native English subjects reading a text in Finnish and in English. The speech samples were analyzed for the mean and range of F0. Speaking a foreign language caused a change in F0 for the Finnish subjects, while the result was not as unambiguous for the English subjects. The change in F0 may be a result of adaptation to a certain pitch level in the foreign environment. Experience in using the foreign language did not show significant correlation to the change in F0, which suggests either individual differences in sensitivity to adaptation or difficulty in quantifying the amount of experience.

[1]  Isabel Guimarães,et al.  Health and voice quality in smokers: An exploratory investigation , 2005, Logopedics, phoniatrics, vocology.

[2]  H Hollien,et al.  Effects of three parameters on speaking fundamental frequency. , 1997, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[3]  Stephen W. Littlejohn.  Theories of Human Communication , 1978 .

[4]  Douglas L. Hogan.  Speech Evaluation in Psychiatry, edited by John K. Darby, Jr. , 1981 .

[5]  H. Giles,et al.  Speech Accommodation Theory: The First Decade and Beyond , 1987 .

[6]  B Johannes,et al.  Voice stress monitoring in space--possibilities and limits. , 2000, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[7]  Francis Nolan,et al.  The Phonetic Bases of Speaker Recognition , 1983 .

[8]  William Acton,et al.  Changing Fossilized Pronunciation , 1984 .

[9]  Jonas Lindh,et al.  Preliminary Descriptive F0-statistics for Young Male Speakers , 2009 .

[10]  Anne-Maria Laukkanen,et al.  Assessment of Vocal Capacity of Finnish University Students , 2008, Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica.

[11]  R. van Bezooijen,et al.  Sociocultural Aspects of Pitch Differences between Japanese and Dutch Women , 1995, Language and speech.

[12]  T Shipp,et al.  Current evidence for the existence of laryngeal macrotremor and microtremor. , 1981, Journal of forensic sciences.

[13]  Birch Moonwomon,et al.  Locating power : proceedings of the second Berkeley Women and Language Conference, April 4 and 5, 1992 , 1992 .

[14]  M I Pegoraro Krook,et al.  Speaking fundamental frequency characteristics of normal Swedish subjects obtained by glottal frequency analysis. , 1988, Folia phoniatrica.

[15]  Yumiko Ohara,et al.  Performing gender through voice pitch: A cross-cultural analysis of Japanese and American English , 1999 .

[16]  A Guell,et al.  Voice analysis to predict the psychological or physical state of a speaker. , 1990, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[17]  Robert F. Coleman,et al.  Normal variations in habitual pitch , 1991 .

[18]  D. Jamieson,et al.  Intonation in English, French and German: Perception and Production , 1987 .

[19]  A. Holbrook,et al.  Fundamental frequency characteristics of young Black adults: spontaneous speaking and oral reading. , 1982, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[20]  Olavi Manninen,et al.  Changes in prosodic features of speech due to environmental factors , 1986, Speech Commun..

[21]  J. Llisterri,et al.  Language-induced voice quality variability in bilinguals , 1994 .

[22]  J. Flege.  Factors affecting degree of perceived foreign accent in English sentences. , 1988, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[23]  Riikka Ullakonoja.  Da. Eto vopros! : prosodic development of Finnish students' read-aloud Russian during study in Russia , 2011 .

[24]  H Hollien,et al.  VOCAL INDICATORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS , 1980, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[25]  Evelyn P. Altenberg,et al.  Fundamental frequency in monolingual English, bilingual English/Russian, and bilingual English/Cantonese young adult women. , 2006, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation.

[26]  J. Ohala,et al.  An Ethological Perspective on Common Cross-Language Utilization of F₀ of Voice , 1984, Phonetica.

[27]  R. Orlikoff,et al.  The effect of the heartbeat on vocal fundamental frequency perturbation. , 1989, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[28]  J. Burgoon,et al.  Interpersonal Adaptation: Dyadic Interaction Patterns , 1995 .

[29]  S N Awan,et al.  Speaking fundamental frequency characteristics of white, African American, and Hispanic kindergartners. , 1996, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[30]  R. Orlikoff,et al.  Fundamental frequency modulation of the human voice by the heartbeat: preliminary results and possible mechanisms. , 1989, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[31]  J. Hillenbrand,et al.  Limits on phonetic accuracy in foreign language speech production , 1984 .