Intrinsic pitch of vowels in read speech at different speech rates

Abstract

Although there is abundant evidence for systematic differences in the average F0 of individual vowels (so‐called “intrinsic pitch”), other things being equal, it has been claimed that these differences disappear in connected speech [N. Umeda, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 70, 350–355 (1981)]. In the hope that it could be possible to identify the other things which, when not equal, influence intrinsic vowel pitch, how it is affected by speaking rate and emphasis (contrastive stress) was examined. Ten speakers of American English (five male and five female) read sentences containing “Leo” and “Lolly” in the target sentence‐medial position with and without emphasis at three different rates. A preliminary analysis of the data reveals that, although these factors influence the intrinsic pitch differences, namely, emphasis amplified it and fast rate attenuated it, the effect was preserved on the average under all conditions.