Comparing fundamental frequency of German vowels produced by German native speakers and Mandarin Chinese learners

Abstract

This study compared the f0 of 14 German vowels in monosyllabic words (/dVt/) embedded in carrier sentences produced by 30 native speakers and 30 Mandarin Chinese learners. Appropriate techniques were employed to robustly measure f0 values and reliably analyze f0 profiles. The results showed that Mandarin learners produced the vowels bearing sentence stress with significantly larger f0 ranges and steeper f0 slopes but comparable f0 mean and maximum in comparison to German natives. Moreover, lax vowels produced by both groups demonstrated narrower ranges with faster f0 changes than tense vowels, which was stronger for Mandarin learners.