Pitch Imitation in Speakers of Tone Languages
How much do you imitate other people's voices when you speak with them? The language you speak may play a big role.
Project description
Speakers of human languages regularly imitate each others speech in very subtle, unconscious ways. Research has shown that the goal of this imitation is often to accommodate other speakers - if you sound more like the person you are speaking with, you are more likely to be understood and build a relationship. One area of imitation is in the pitch of your voice - if another person produces speech with a higher pitch or emphasizes a certain word, you are more likely to follow suit and imitate them in this way. Yet, not all languages treat pitch the same way. In tonal languages, like Chinese, pitch changes meanings in words. So, speakers do not have the same flexibility to modify their pitch values when listening to another talker than speakers of a non-tonal language, like English, do.
The goals of the current project are to examine how much imitation takes place between speakers in three languages - English, Chinese, and Itunyoso Triqui (a tone language in Mexico). Ideal undergraduate candidates will have experience in acoustic phonetics, the use of Praat (a software package), and some background in linguistics. Students will be trained in the use of additional tools for speech processing as needed. The tasks involve processing recordings of the speech signal in the different languages of the project. Knowledge of Mandarin Chinese will be especially helpful.
Project outcome
Student work will culminate in a presentation at a conference (to be attended remotely). Students who participate in the project long-term will be co-authors of resulting research submitted for publication.
Project details
| Length of commitment | Longer than a semester, about 6-9 months |
| Start time | Spring or Summer |
| In-person, remote, or hybrid? | Hybrid |
| Level of collaboration | Small group project (2-3 students) |
| Benefits | Research experience |
| Who is eligible | All undergraduate students with familiarity with linguistics, acoustic phonetics, and Praat software. Knowledge of Mandarin Chinese is also helpful. |
Project mentor
Christian DiCanio
Associate Professor
Linguistics
Phone: (716) 645-0113
Email: cdicanio@buffalo.edu
Start the project
- Email the project mentor using the contact information above to express your interest and get approval to work on the project. (Here are helpful tips on how to contact a project mentor.)
- After you receive approval from the mentor to start this project, click the button to start the digital badge. (Learn more about ELN's digital badge options.)
Preparation activities
Once you begin the digital badge series, you will have access to all the necessary activities and instructions. Your mentor has indicated they would like you to also complete the specific preparation activities below. Please reference this when you get to Step 2 of the Preparation Phase.
- Read two articles
- A short Praat activity (set up with the project mentor)
Keywords
Linguistics