On the mechanism of lowering the voice fundamental frequency in the production of tones of Standard Chinese

Abstract

While it is well known that the cricothyroid (CT) muscle is mainly responsible for lowering the voice fundamental frequency (F0) in many languages, the mechanism for F0 lowering in languages such as Standard Chinese (SC) has not been elucidated. Although several studies have shown that the sternohyoid (SH) muscle activity is strongly correlated with F0 lowering in SC, the mechanism itself is not clear since SH is not directly attached to the thyroid cartilage, whose movement is essential in changing the length and tension of the vocal chord. On the basis of an earlier finding on the production of Thai tones [D. Erickson, Annual Bulletin No. 27, RILP, Univ. Tokyo, pp. 135–149 (1993)], the present author has suggested the active role of the thyrohyoid (TH) muscle in F0 lowering in languages such as SC and Swedish [H. Fujisaki, Proc. XXIII World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, pp. 156–159 (1995)]. The present study shows the detailed mechanism for F0 lowering involving both TH and SH in the production of the second, third, and fourth tones of SC based on new electromyographic observations.