scholarly journals The roles of fundamental frequency contours and sentence context in Mandarin Chinese speech intelligibility

2013 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. EL91-EL97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiuju Wang ◽  
Hua Shu ◽  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Zhaoxing Liu ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Sentence Context

Tone and intonation in Mandarin babytalk to presyllabic infants: Comparison with registers of adult conversation and foreign language instruction

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mechthild Papoušek ◽  
Shu-Fen C. Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction

ABSTRACTSix native speakers of Mandarin Chinese recorded 140 preselected utterances in three role-play contexts that differentially elicited registers of babytalk to presyllabic infants (BTP), foreign language instruction (FLI), and adult conversation (AC). Sound spectrograms were used to obtain 10 measures of fundamental frequency (Fo) patterns for comparisons among the three registers. In FLI, the speakers expanded Fo patterns in time and Fo range in comparison with AC. They clarified lexical tonal information and seemed to reduce suprasegmental information. In BTP, the speakers raised peak and minimum Fo, reduced the rate of Fo fluctuations, and increased the proportion of terminal rising contours. The speakers reduced, neglected, or modified lexical tonal information in favor of simplified and clarified intonation contours. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to tone acquisition in children and to a universal intuitive didactic competence in caretakers.

scholarly journals Comparing fundamental frequency of German vowels produced by German native speakers and Mandarin Chinese learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 075203
Author(s):  
Yingming Gao ◽  
Hongwei Ding ◽  
Peter Birkholz ◽  
Yi Lin
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Learners

A Study of Pharyngeal Speech

1973 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Weinberg ◽  
Jan Westerhouse
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Primary Method ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
Laryngeal Papillomatosis ◽  
Alaryngeal Speech

Pharyngeal speech represents one of several types of alaryngeal speech; however, its use as a primary method of communication is rare. This report relates the principal findings of an intensive study of a 12-year-old girl with laryngeal papillomatosis who has used pharyngeal speech as an exclusive method of oral communication since age two. The unique physiologic mechanisms of pharyngeal speech are described and differentiated from other forms of alaryngeal speech. This girl’s reduced pharyngeal speech intelligibility for consonant and vowel rhyme-test words, her unfavorable phonation time and maximum phonation duration characteristics, her low average fundamental frequency, and her markedly hoarse pharyngeal voice quality all are distinct vocal liabilities. These findings lend strong support to the hypothesis that pharyngeal speech should not be regarded as a desirable or practical primary method of alaryngeal speech.

Contributions of the Fundamental, Resolved Harmonics, and Unresolved Harmonics in Tone-Phoneme Identification

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1406-1409 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Stagray ◽  
David Downs ◽  
Ronald K. Sommers
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Lower Intensity ◽  
Higher Harmonics ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Phoneme Identification

Researchers describe Mandarin Chinese tone phonemes by their fundamental frequency (Fo) contours. However, tone phonemes are also comprised of higher harmonics that also may cue tone phonemes. We measured identification thresholds of acoustically filtered tone phonemes and found that higher harmonics, including resolved harmonics above the Fo and unresolved harmonics, cued tone phonemes. Resolved harmonics cued tone phonemes at lower intensity levels suggesting they are more practical tone-phoneme cues in everyday speech. The clear implication is that researchers should use the Fo only as a benchmark when describing tone-phoneme contours, recognizing that higher harmonics also cue tone phonemes. These results also help explain why tone-language speakers can identify tone phonemes over a telephone that attenuates selective frequencies, and suggests that hearing-impaired tone-language speakers may still identify tone phonemes when their hearing loss attenuates selective frequencies.

scholarly journals Fundamental frequency and speech intelligibility in background noise

2010 ◽  
Vol 266 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Brown ◽  
Sid P. Bacon
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility
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