Fundamental frequency patterns across gender, task, and language in Spanish-English bilinguals

Abstract

Speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) patterns are known to vary by language and speaker gender. Relatively little data exist for SFF patterns among cisgender and transgender speakers, especially those who speak languages other than English. Further, speaking task (e.g., read versus spontaneous speech) may impact SFF patterns. This study examined SFF patterns in Spanish-English bilinguals of varying gender identities. Twenty-four speakers (8 cisgender men, 8 cisgender women, and 8 transgender women) recorded a read passage and spontaneous speech in Spanish and English. SFF measures of minimum, maximum, range, and median were found to be stable across speech tasks and languages. A significant effect of gender was found. Cisgender women on average produced the highest values of minimum, maximum, and median SFF and largest SFF range. Cisgender men produced the lowest values and smallest range. Transgender women produced SFF measures within an intermediate range of cisgender men and women. Compared to monolingual English speakers, Spanish-English bilingual cisgender women had a larger SFF mean for both Spanish and English, cisgender men had similar SFF means for both Spanish and English, and transgender women had a slightly larger SFF mean for both Spanish and English.