The intrinsic pitch of vowels in sentence context

Abstract

It has long been accepted that high vowels have a higher intrinsic pitch than low vowels. First noted by J. W. Black [J. Speech Hear. Disorders 14, 216–221 (1949)], this effect has been verified for different consonantal environments and in several languages. However, all studies of intrinsic pitch of vowels have used nonsense words, either in isolation or bearing the main phrasal stress in a carrier sentence. As a first step towards an understanding of how the intrinsic pitch of vowels interacts with intonation in running speech, this study examined the F0 of the vowels in “reed,” “rod,” and “rude” in sentence context. Results for four speakers are reported, for four locations in sentences matched for length and stress pattern. A statistically significant effect of vowel height was found for all speakers in all positions. In addition, /u/ was generally higher than /i/, confirming results reported by Lehiste and Peterson [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 33, 419–425 (1961)]. Possible explanations for these results will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH and Bell Laboratories.]