Constructing boyishness: A sociophonetic analysis of Japanese anime voice actresses performing male roles

Abstract

The present study investigates the performance of different gendered roles by Japanese female seiyuu [voice actors] through analysis of fundamental frequency (f0). Ten voice actresses who have been known for commonly voicing male characters were sampled for analysis. For each actress, two characters from their repertoire were chosen (one male, one female), and from each character 75 intonation phrases were sampled, for a total of 1500 utterances. For each of these samples, pitch data were extracted and analyzed. Results for both male and female role performances display an average f0 that generally falls inside the category previously defined as hegemonically “feminine” in Japanese. While male role measurements were on average lower than female role measurements, only occasionally did any actress produce pitches in the average expected range for a Japanese man. However, because the female role measurements were significantly higher than that of average Japanese women, the differences between the “male role” and “female role” categories proved statistically significant in terms of minimum pitch, maximum pitch, mean pitch, and pitch range. A theory is proposed that the hyper-femininity of many female roles is what necessitates this difference.