Here is a vowel formant plot of the vowels shown in the figure with the MR images. The values of the frequencies of F1 and F2 are sufficient to distinguish most vowel contrasts in most languages. Click on the red squares in the formant chart above to hear a vowel sound synthesized by setting F1 and F2 to the values in the chart, but keeping all the other formant values the same. The actual values of the formant frequencies will depend on the head size or vocal tract length of the speaker.
And so on. Consequently, the current scientific discussions mainly focus on specific matters such as different types of phonation and articulation when producing vowel sounds, sound variations and dynamic processes related to the respective syntactic and semantic context, sounds produced by speakers of different age and gender and corresponding normalisation attempts, attempts to improve formant pattern estimation and attempts to relate acoustic findings and processes of auditory perception.
Having said that, notwithstanding, the present consideration returns to the basic assertion of the current acoustic theory of the vowel cited at the beginning of this introduction. It presents a critical reading, indeed a falsification, of this assertion. Further, it seeks to demonstrate that whereas prevailing theory indicates is an index of the actual physical characteristics of vowels, it fails to designate these characteristics adequately.
As such, this work highlights an unresolved fundamental problem of the voiced speech sound, and thus of the voice as such, and raises this problem once again for discussion. The form of this treatise is, in part, unusual in a scientific context. However, with the exception of the four aspects discussed below, this introduction dispenses with lengthy prefatory explanations. In its course, the argument and its form of presentation should become self-evident.
Besides, additional comments in the afterword further expand on, and hopefully clarify, matters. As mentioned, however, four introductory aspects are to be explained at this juncture. They concern linguistic expression and style, referencing, the significance of argumentation and the perspective adopted here. This might complicate the reading. Moreover, with the exception of Sections 1. Further, from Part III onwards, the text requires the reader to reflect thoroughly on the prevailing theory of the vowel as presented in Part I.
The text also calls upon the reader to approach the related terms and concepts and the statistical values for formant patterns with a certain amount of self-assurance. However, such a procedure is necessary: the text insists on the discussion of a few fundamental reflections and general facts, and their interrelations, in the attempt, as mentioned, to highlight a fundamental problem. Most of the issues considered here have already been discussed in the literature, and most of the corresponding publications were presented by other authors.
However, they have often been interpreted in a way that differs from the point of view taken here. Yet, aside from the illustrations and tables mentioned, the text largely dispenses with explicit references to previous studies, including our own, so as to pursue its main argument without any detailed discussion and referencing of individual aspects. The Materials section for the structure of this text, see below , however, includes a considerable number of citations, together with references to existent publications.
Moreover, as mentioned above, my colleagues and I have discussed most of the aspects addressed here elsewhere. The present text is new in its course of argument, as is the arrangement and presentation of citations, comments, illustrated examples and outlines of experiments in the Materials and Experiments sections.
Each of the preferred resonanting frequencies of the vocal tract each bump in the frequency response curve is known as a formant. They are usually referred to as F1, F2, F3, etc. For example, the formants for a schwa as spoken by an adult male whose vocal tract is 17 centimetres long:. People whose vocal tracts are longer or shorter than 17 cm will have different frequencies for these formants, but the pattern of 1x-3x-5x will be the same.
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