Recent article on Thai phonetics

[Jack Gandour]

Gandour, J., Tumtavitikul, A., & Satthamnuwong, N. (1999). Effects of
speaking rate on Thai tones. Phonetica, 56, 123-134.

Effects of speaking rate on the production of lexical tones (mid, low,
falling, high, rising) were investigated in Thai. Stimuli consisted of
bisyllabic adverbials (first syllable unstressed, last syllable stressed)
elicited in a fixed syntactic and prosodic environment. For unstressed and
stressed syllables separately, F0 and time normalized, fitted, third order
polynomial curves were used to compare height and slope characteristics of
the tonal contours at each of 11 measurement locations between fast and
slow speaking rates. Results indicated that speaking rate effects on F0
contours of unstressed syllables are more extensive, both in terms of
height and slope, than those of stressed syllables. In particular, the
height of F0 contours in unstressed syllables was generally higher in the
fast speaking rate when compared to the slow. Analysis of the preceding
carrier syllable revealed that changes in height of F0 contours of
unstressed syllables may be due primarily to perseverative effects of tonal
coarticulation rather than to stress itself. The slope of F0 contours in
unstressed syllables varied depending on range of F0 movement. Thai tones
with substantial F0 movement (falling, high, rising) exhibited overall
flatter slopes at the fast speaking rate; those tones with lesser F0
movement (mid, low) displayed steeper slopes. Despite extensive changes in
height and shape, the five-way tonal contrast appears to be maintained in
unstressed syllables at a fast speaking rate albeit in a different tonal space.

Jack Gandour, PhD
Dept Audio & Speech Sci
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN  47907-1353  USA
Tel (765) 494-3821
Fax (765) 494-0771
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