Pitch dynamism in bilingual females and males

Abstract

Pitch dynamism refers to how rapid or slow are changes in pitch range from high points to low points, and vice versa. Previous studies of pitch have focused largely on average pitch. Dynamism has been little explored instrumentally, and scarcely at all with regard to the variable speaker sex. Using recordings of female and male bilingual speakers, dynamism will be measured on the basis of first-differentiated fundamental frequency curves. These data will be used to explore whether there are intersex differences in pitch dynamism, and whether there is variation according to language spoken. Findings will be related to previously reported results for pitch ranges by females and males. Taking the combined results, it will be possible to respond empirically to stereotypes existing for more excitable or more variable speech for female speech, a response that has been urged by, e.g., Kramer (1977), McConnell-Ginet (1983), and Smith (1985).