A comparison of the first and second formants of vowels common to English and French

Abstract

English vowels have been characterized as being lower, more central, and less rounded than the predominantly high, front, rounded vowels of French [P. Delattre, Comparing the Phonic Features of English, French, German and Spanish: An Interim Report (Groos Verlag, Heidelberg, 1965)]. In the present study, Delattre's description is experimentally investigated by comparing the first and second formant frequencies of English and French vowels that occur in both languages (i.e., /i,e,ɛ,u,o,ɔ,ɑ/). The results suggest that: (1) high vowels tend to be higher in French than in English; (2) /ɑ/ tends to be lower in English than in French; (3) high and mid vowels tend to be more central in English than in French; (4) rounded vowels tend to have greater liprounding in French than in English; (5) front vowels are higher and more fronted in French than in English; and (6) back vowels have greater pharyngeal constriction in English than in French. Although Delattre's description of English and French vowels is generally supported by the results, it does not fully characterize the differences demonstrated between the vowels common to English and French.