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Vowel Acoustics, part 2

Vowel Acoustics, part 2. March 12, 2014. The Master Plan. Today: How resonance relates to vowels (= formants ) On Friday: In-class transcription exercise (You won’t have to do anything ahead of time.) Remember: acoustics homework is due on Monday. Any questions so far?.

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Vowel Acoustics, part 2

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  1. Vowel Acoustics, part 2 March 12, 2014

  2. The Master Plan • Today: • How resonance relates to vowels • (= formants) • On Friday: • In-class transcription exercise • (You won’t have to do anything ahead of time.) • Remember: acoustics homework is due on Monday. • Any questions so far?

  3. My “Open Tube” Vowel formants

  4. A Vowel Spectrum F1 F2 F4 F3 Note: F0  160 Hz

  5. Different Vowels,Different Formants • The formant frequencies of resemble the resonant frequencies of a tube that is open at one end. • For the average man (like Peter Ladefoged or me): • F1 = 500 Hz • F2 = 1500 Hz • F3 = 2500 Hz • However, we can change the shape of the vocal tract to get different resonant frequencies. • Vowels may be defined in terms of their characteristic resonant frequencies (formants).

  6. Artificial Examples • The characteristic resonant frequencies (formants) of the “corner” vowels: “[i]” “[u]” “ ”

  7. Real Vowels

  8. Real Vowels

  9. Vowel Articulations • We learned (a long time ago) that vowels are articulated with characteristic tongue and lip shapes

  10. Vowel Dimensions For this reason, vowels have traditionally been described according to four pseudo-articulatory parameters: • Height (of tongue) • Front/Back (of tongue) • Rounding (of lips) • Tense/Lax = distance from center of vowel space.

  11. The Vowel Space

  12. Vowel Acoustics • But it turns out that we can get to the same chart a different way... • Vowels are primarily distinguished by their first two formant frequencies: F1 and F2 • F1 corresponds to vowel height: • lower F1 = higher vowel • higher F1 = lower vowel • F2 corresponds to front/backness: • higher F2 = fronter vowel • lower F2 = backer vowel

  13. Reality Check • Let’s check out the formant values for Bruce Hayes’ vowels in Praat. • And plot them on the board.

  14. Things to Keep in Mind • Resonant frequencies (formants) are primarily based on the length of the speaker’s vocal tract. • (the length of the open tube) • The longer the vocal tract, the lower the formant frequencies. • Thought Question #1: • What effect might lip rounding have on formant frequencies? • Thought Answer #1: • Lip rounding lowers both formant frequencies. • Thought Caveat #1: rounded vowels (like [u] and [o]) are often fronted in modern English.

  15. “Normalcy” “booed” “bode”

  16. Feeling Minnesota “booed” “bode”

  17. Looking California “booed” “bode”

  18. Things to Keep in Mind • Thought Question #2: • How might formant frequencies differ between men and women?

  19. [i] [u] [æ]

  20. [i] [u] [æ]

  21. Women and Men • The acoustics of male and female vowels differ reliably along two different dimensions: • Sound Source • Sound Filter • Source--F0: depends on length of vocal folds • shorter in women  higher average F0 • longer in men  lower average F0 • Filter--Formants: depend on length of vocal tract • shorter in women  higher formant frequencies • longer in men  lower formant frequencies

  22. Prototypical Voices • Andre the Giant: (very) low F0, low formant frequencies • Goldie Hawn: high F0, high formant frequencies

  23. F0/Formant mismatches • The fact that source and filter characteristics are independent of each other… • means that there can sometimes be source and filter “mismatches” in men and women. • What would high F0 combined with low formant frequencies sound like? • Answer: Julia Child.

  24. F0/Formant mismatches • Another high F0, low formants example: • Roy Forbes, of Roy’s Record Room (on CKUA 93.7 FM) • The opposite mis-match = • Popeye: low F0, high formant frequencies

  25. In Praat • Check out: • Andre • Goldie • Julia • Popeye • Low-to-high F0 • Pitch Shifting

  26. In Conclusion • Everybody’s vowel space is different. • A vowel space is defined by a speaker’s range of first formant (F1) and second formant (F2) frequencies. • We identify vowels on the basis of the patterns formed by their formants within that acoustic space. • F1 determines the height of vowels. • F2 determines the front/backness of vowels. • Rounding lowers both formant frequencies. • Questions?

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