Pitch peak location and the perception of Serbo-Croatian word tone

Abstract

In earlier research this author found that the location of the peak of the fundamental frequency within Serbo-Croatian stressed vowels regularly occurred earlier for falling word tones, later for rising word tones. This paper presents the results of a perceptual experiment involving synthetic stimuli designed to test the ability of native speakers of Serbo-Croatian to hear differences in the location of peak fundamental frequency within the stressed vowel. The results indicate that listeners can attend to differences in peak fundamental frequency in the determination of rising or falling word tones. A peak fundamental frequency located in the final 24% of the stressed vowel tends to be judged “rising”. Peaks located earlier are judged “falling”. The data of the present study demonstrate the relevance of peak fundamental frequency location for the determination of Serbo-Croatian word tone and correlate well with the model of Serbo-Croatian word tone earlier proposed by this author.