The Acoustic Correlates and Time Span of the Non-modal Phonation in Kunshan Wu Chinese

Abstract

This study investigates the acoustic correlates and time span of the non-modal phonation in Kunshan Wu, a Northern Wu dialect spoken in a city neighboring Shanghai and Suzhou.While previous studies mostly believe that the non-modal phonation in the lower register in Wu dialects is breathier, the phonetic correlates and methods of measurement vary among researchers, and measurement biases render some results to be unreliable. In this study, twelve native speakers of different ages and genders were recorded for examination of the acoustics in isolated monosyllabic words.Results show that the lower register generally exhibit higher spectral tilts and more noise, which confirms that the non-modal phonation is breathier. Based on the time course of two measures that are consistently useful across age and gender, the time span of the non-modal phonation is on average eight-ninths of unchecked vowels or entire checked vowels from the onset. Moreover, in one of the lower register unchecked tones, the non-modal phonation is found to last no shorter than the modal phonation in the upper register.