Acoustical differences in vocal characteristics between Cantonese and English produced by Cantonese-English bilingual adult speakers

Abstract

Vocal characteristics associated with 40 (20 male and 20 female) adult Cantonese-English bilingual speakers were examined. Fundamental frequency (F0) values and four parameters calculated from the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) including the first spectral peak (FSP), mean spectral energy (MSE), spectral tilt (ST) and high frequency energy (HFE) were obtained from connected speech samples produced in each language by the speakers. Acoustical measurements were measured with PRAAT and compared between languages and genders. The results indicated that female speakers had significantly higher F0 values in speaking English than Cantonese. Bilingual speakers exhibited comparable FSP values, but with significantly greater MSE value and lower ST value in Cantonese than English. The findings implied that, even with the same phonatory apparatus, language being spoken posed effect on speakers’ voice quality.