Adjustment of cue weighting in speech by speakers and listeners: Evidence from amplitude and duration modifications of Mandarin Chinese tone

Abstract

Speech contrasts are signaled by multiple acoustic dimensions, but these dimensions are not equally diagnostic. Moreover, the relative diagnosticity, or weight, of acoustic dimensions in speech can shift in different communicative contexts for both speech perception and speech production. However, the literature remains unclear on whether, and if so how, talkers adjust speech to emphasize different acoustic dimensions in the context of changing communicative demands. Here, we examine the interplay of flexible cue weights in speech production and perception across amplitude and duration, secondary non-spectral acoustic dimensions for phonated Mandarin Chinese lexical tone, across natural speech and whispering, which eliminates fundamental frequency contour, the primary acoustic dimension. Phonated and whispered Mandarin productions from native talkers revealed enhancement of both duration and amplitude cues in whispered, compared to phonated speech. When nonspeech amplitude-modulated noises modeled these patterns of enhancement, identification of the noises as Mandarin lexical tone categories was more accurate than identification of noises modeling phonated speech amplitude and duration cues. Thus, speakers exaggerate secondary cues in whispered speech and listeners make use of this information. Yet, enhancement is not symmetric among the four Mandarin lexical tones, indicating possible constraints on the realization of this enhancement.

Tonal identification in whispered speech

“…Last but not least, it is still highly debated whether the ability to distinguish tones in whispers is primarily due to speakers intentionally enhancing secondary cues, or the result of listeners becoming more sensitive to said cues in the absence of F 0. The former is known as the production enhancement hypothesis, supported by studies including Liu & Samuel (2004) and Zhang et al (2022), while the latter is the perceptual compensation hypothesis, advocated by Jiao & Xu (2019), among others. We observed that Speaker A exaggerates duration contrasts more in whispered utterances than in phonated speech, which is in line with the production enhancement hypothesis.…”

Sustainable Benefits of High Variability Phonetic Training in Mandarin-speaking Kindergarteners With Cochlear Implants: Evidence From Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones

“…A recent study by Kim et al (2021) has demonstrated that short-term intensive training could slightly but not significantly improve cue weighting of F0 contour and amplitude envelope in NH adults recognizing CI simulations of Mandarin tones. In studies of second language learning and phonetic training, it has been shown that non-native listeners may demonstrate enhanced sensitivity to the secondary acoustic cues (Zhang et al 2009, 2019b; 2022). It is possible that the HVPT protocol might significantly increase the sensitivity to secondary acoustic cues of lexical tones among the pediatric trainees with CIs.…”

Advancements of Phonetics in the 21st century: Quantitative data analysis

“…There are several papers on dynamic acoustic patterns in tones in southeast Asian languages (Li and Chen, 2016;Zhang and Meng, 2016;Lee et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2022) which rely on GCA. For instance, Li and Chen (2016) use GCA models with two polynomial terms to capture tonal coarticulation in Tianjin Mandarin, presenting model summaries and prediction plots to evaluate differences across different tonal contexts.…”