Voice, speech and gender:

• Main Author: Erwan Pépiot
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cercle linguistique du Centre et de l'Ouest - CerLICO 2015-06-01
• Series: Corela
• Subjects: phonetics; voice and gender; speech and gender; cross-gender acoustic differences; cross-language variations; Parisian French
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/corela/3783

Many studies were conducted on acoustic differences between female and male voices. However, they were generally led on speakers of only one language, and focused on a single acoustic parameter. The present study is an acoustic analysis of dissyllabic words or pseudo-words produced by Northeastern American English speakers and Parisian French speakers. Resonant frequencies, mean F0, F0 range, VOT, H1-H2 intensity differences and words’ durations were measured. Significant cross-gender differences were obtained for each tested parameter. Moreover, cross-language variations were observed for F0 range, vocalic formants and H1-H2 differences. These results suggest that cross-gender acoustic differences are partly socially constructed and language dependent.