Non-Contrastive Voice Quality Characteristics of Northern Vietnamese Tones
Allison Blodgett, Melissa K. Fox, C. Anton Rytting, Alina Twist, University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language
This study investigated non-contrastive voice qualities in Northern Vietnamese tones with a focus on huyên and hoi. The analysis measured the relative amplitude of the first and second harmonics (H1-H2) and of the first harmonic and first formant (H1-A1) in a sample of native speaker speech. While the results are consistent with reports of multiple voice qualities for huyên and hoi, huyên appeared to be breathy or tense, not breathy or modal. In addition, low falling-rising hoi demonstrated breathy, modal, and tense qualities, while the low falling variant was consistently non-modal.