Fundamental frequency patterns of Chinesein different speech modes

I.IntroductionTheF,patternsofspeechareimportantnotonlyforthcprosodicfeaturesbuta1soforvoicesourcecharactcristics.Nowmoreandmorespeechscientistsrecognizedthatvoiceexcitationsourceintcxt-to-spccchsystemsp1aysanimportantro1elnbothintclligibilityandnaturalnessorsynthcticspcech.Espccially,forChinese,atone1anguagewithmulti-tonesystem,thetonalpatternswhicharcmainlydcmonstratedintheF,con-tourscarry1exicalmeaning.SomecomparativestudiesoftheF,pattcrnsinbetweentonelanguage(Chinese)andstress1anguage(En…

Fundamental frequency patterns of Chinese in different speech modes

The fundamental frequency F0 patterns of standard Chinese were examined at both macro (passage) level and micro (period) level in different speech modes using a Laryngograph. The results show that: 1. The more speech effort the speakcr makes the higher are the mean F0, mid F0, and modal F0,in connected speech, and at the samc time the pitch range is expanded; 2. The values of mean F0, mid F0, and modal F0, are different in different speech styles (isolated syllables, isolatcd sentences, and connected speech); 3. The speech rate has apparent influence on golttal waves but no significant innuence on the F0 distribution function; and 4. The closed phase is roughly inverse of F0 in isolated syllables with tones.