Voice onset time in Mandarin esophageal speech

Abstract

As an important perceptual cue for voicing and aspiration of stops, voice onset time (VOT) is mainly determined by the aerodynamic interaction between the intraoral and subglottal regions. However, since the PE segment serves as a new vibratory source in esophageal phonation, aerodynamic events are very different from laryngeal phonation. VOT associated with esophageal speech of English has been reported previously. However, few studies have reported VOT characteristics of esophageal speech of tone languages. The present study will investigate the possible VOT difference between esophageal and normal laryngeal speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Seven superior esophageal speakers and 7 normal laryngeal speakers will participate in the present investigation. They will be native male speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The participants will produce the syllable /ta/ embedded in a carrier phrase at a comfortable loudness level for three times. VOT values will be measured from a time domain waveform. With reference to a wide-band (300 Hz) spectrogram, VOT will be defined as the release of stop and the first identifiable period of the vocalic portion. An independent sample t-test will be used to determine if VOT values of esophageal and normal laryngeal speakers were significantly different.