Dialect experience and perceptual integrality in phonological registers: Fundamental frequency, voice quality and the first formant in Cham

Abstract

The perceptual integrality of f0, F1 and voice quality is investigated by looking at register, a phonological contrast that relies on these three properties in three dialects of Cham, an Austronesian language of Mainland Southeast Asia. The results of a Garner classification experiment confirm that the three acoustic properties integrate perceptually and that their patterns of integrality are similar in the three dialects. Moreover, they show that dialect-specific sensitivity to acoustic properties can cause salient dimensions to override weaker ones. Finally, the patterns of integrality found in Cham suggest that auditory integrality is not limited to acoustically similar properties.

Voice quality and tone identification in White Hmong

“…These authors have shown that in a variety of languages, lax or breathy phonation may co-occur with lower F1 values. Furthermore, perception studies have shown an interdependence of vowel quality and voice quality in listeners' judgments about vowel or voice (Kingston et al, 1997;Lotto et al, 1997;Brunelle, 2012). Such previous findings are consistent with our result that higher spectral tilt caused both more "breathy-toned" and more /O/ (rather than /a/) responses.…”

“…Although voice quality modulations may be independent of the filter, researchers have reported vowel quality differences for contrastive phonation types in several languages, possibly due to pharyngeal involvement or larynx movement (Maddieson and Ladefoged, 1985;Denning, 1989;Gordon and Ladefoged, 2001;Edmondson and Esling, 2006;Kuang, 2011;Brunelle, 2012). These authors have shown that in a variety of languages, lax or breathy phonation may co-occur with lower F1 values.…”

“…Although low pitch can be heard as creak, to our knowledge, changes in F0 alone cannot trigger a percept of breathiness. Interestingly, it is common across languages for breathiness to be associated with relatively low or falling tones (Hombert et al, 1979;Gordon and Ladefoged, 2001;Brunelle, 2012), whereas laryngealization (a form of which is creaky voice) can be associated with either lower or higher pitch and tones (Hombert et al, 1979;Gordon and Ladefoged, 2001;Kingston, 2005, and references therein;Brunelle, 2012). Still, creaky voice per se generally means extra-low pitch (Gerratt and Kreiman, 2001).…”

“…In such cases, it is not always clear whether listeners pay attention only to phonation, only to pitch, or to phonation as well as pitch. Studies of a few languages have begun to show that sometimes listeners do attend to phonation, even when it is correlated with pitch (BelotelGreni e and Greni e, 1997; Brunelle, 2009;Brunelle and Finkeldey, 2011;Yu and Lam, 2011;Brunelle, 2012). But in other cases, listeners do not attend to phonation (notably breathiness), preferring pitch information exclusively (Brunelle, 2009;Brunelle and Finkeldey, 2011;Brunelle, 2012).…”

The role of creaky voice in Cantonese tonal perception

“…Such languages differ in whether pitch or phonation is more important perceptually as a dimension of contrast, suggesting that there is a "fuzzy boundary" between register and tone languages (Abramson and Luangthongkum, 2009). There are cases where pitch has been shown to be perceptually primary, although there are consistent differences in phonation, e.g., Suai (Abramson et al, 2004) and Cham (Brunelle, 2012). There are also cases where phonation has been shown to be perceptually primary, although there are consistent differences in pitch, e.g., Hmong (Garellek et al, 2013), Northern Vietnamese (Brunelle, 2009), Sgaw Karen (Brunelle and Finkeldey, 2011).…”