Intrinsic effects of obstruent consonants on F0

Abstract

This study is part of a project to improve generation of F0 contours in rule-based speech synthesis using HLsyn. When a vowel follows an obstruent consonant, the fundamental frequency in the first few tens of milliseconds of the vowel is influenced by the voicing characteristics of the consonant. In an attempt to model this influence, pilot data were recorded by one subject. The alveolar stops /d,t,th/ and the nasal /m/ were paired with the vowels /i,a/ to form CVm syllables. The syllables mVm served as a baseline with which to compare the stop consonants. The target syllables were embedded in carrier sentences. Intonation was varied so that each target syllable was produced with either a H*, L*, or no pitch accent. F0 was increased relative to the baseline following all three obstruents, with the greatest increase for the voiceless aspirated stop and the least for the voiced stop. The F0 increase and the disparity among the three stops varied with pitch accent: H* showed the greatest influence, while L* showed the least. F0 may be increased for up to 80 ms following voicing onset. Data will be presented for additional subjects and obstruents. [Work supported by NIH Grant No. DC04331.]