The role of creaky voice quality in Cantonese tonal perception.

Abstract

Vance (1976) found a response bias against Tone 4 (mid-low falling) in a tonal perception experiment in Cantonese where synthesized stimuli varied only in F0, and Vance (1977) explained this by suggesting that creaky voice quality is a redundant cue for Tone 4. Indeed, there is evidence that creaky voice quality plays a role in tonal perception: in Mandarin, a language where creak is well-known to be a redundant cue for one of the tones, Tone 3 (low fall-rise), Belotel-Grenié and Grenié (1994) found that creaky instances of Tone 3 were recognized faster than non-creaky instances. The effect of creaky voice quality on the perception of Tones 4 and 6 (mid-low level) in Cantonese will be investigated using a 2AFC identification task of natural stimuli that were elicited in isolation and in connected speech. Variability in creak in the realization of Tone 4 occurred naturally in the elicited stimuli. If creaky voice quality plays a role in tonal perception, we hypothesize that overtly audible creak, as well as low H1-H2, a spectral index of creak, will bias listeners toward identification as Tone 4, as measured by d′ scores, and may also speed Tone 4 recognition.