Prosodic Studies on the Spoken Corpus of the Khalkha Mongolian Language: Age and Gender Effects on F0 and Speech Rate

Abstract

There are many studies on age- and gender-dependent analyses in multiple languages. Still, the fundamental frequency (F0) and speech rate in different age and gender groups with Khalkha Mongolian have not yet been studied. In this investigation, we analyzed the speaker’s age and gender effects on F0 and speech rate based on a spontaneous speech corpus of the Khalkha dialect of the Mongolian language. We have discovered some universal aspects of these phonological phenomena and specific relevant characteristics of speech rate change depending on gender. The average speech rate of Khalkha Mongolian is 5.3 syllables per second. The male speakers spoke much quicker than the female speakers. Age and gender affect the F0 and speech rate in particular systematic ways. The F0 of the female and male speakers tended to decrease with age. Also, that elderly male speakers talk slower than elderly female speakers, while young and middle-aged male speakers tend to talk faster than female speakers of the same age.