Vowel Acoustics

Question 1

Harmonics are a property of ____?
H1 = ___?

Answer 1

• the source!
  → aka vocal fold vibration
• H1 = fundamental frq

Question 2

Formants def?

Answer 2

• Frequency ranges (ie. groups of harmonics) which emerge from the mouth and nose with greatest relative amplitude
• Known as resonant frqs of vocal tract

Question 3

Articulation & acoustics:
F1 corresponds to ___?
F2 corresponds to ___?

Answer 3

• F1 corresponds to height
  → inverse correlation
• F2 corresponds to backness
  → “normal” correlation

Question 4

What kind of vowels have what kind of F1?

Answer 4

• High vowels → LOW F1
• Low vowels → HIGH F1

(inverse correlation for F1)

Question 5

What kind of vowels have what kind of F2?
What else affects F2?

Answer 5

• Front vowels → HIGH F2
• Back vowels → LOW F2
• Lip rounding further lowers F2

Question 6

/i/
F1 is ___?
F2 is ___? (high/low)

Answer 6

/i/
F1 is LOW
F2 is HIGH

Question 7

A vowel with a LOW F1 & LOW F2 is…

Answer 7

• high, back vowel
• /u/ or /ʊ/

Question 8

/ɑ/
F1 is ___?
F2 is ___? (high/low)

Answer 8

/ɑ/
F1 is HIGH
F2 is LOW

Question 9

A vowel with a LOW F1 & HIGH F2 is…

Answer 9

• high, front vowel
• /i/ or /I/

Question 10

Things we can change to change formant frequencies? This shows that source & filter are relatively ____?

Answer 10

1. overall length of vocal tract (lip rounding)
2. Location of constriction
   → back tongue constriction lowers F2
3. Degree of constriction
   → tighter constriction lowers F1

relatively independent!

Question 11

Variation in formant frequencies:
3 factors for across talker
3 factors for within talker

Answer 11

Across talker:
- Anatomy/physiology
- Language
- Dialect

Within talker:
- Speaking style (clear, fast, casual, etc)
- Social group
- Phonetic context
→ surrounding sounds, ex nasal, r’s, etc

Question 12

Longer vocal tract (anatomically) means you’ll have ___ frequencies?

Answer 12

• LOWER
• Men generally have lower frequencies than women and children
• Vocal tract is longer

Question 13

When asked to speak clearly, the vowel space ____?

Answer 13

• Expands!
• vowels spread farther apart from each other
• become more distinct

Question 14

Example of consonantal context with /u/ ?

Answer 14

• “too” vs. “coo”
• /u/ is more fronted with a /t/
• more back with a /k/

Question 15

Social context variety → Oprah did what?

Answer 15

• shift from /ay/ to /a:/ when speaking AAE