Title : Gender Variation in Acoustic Characteristics of Southern Pa-O Lexical Tones

Author(s) : Sujinat Jitwiriyanont

Pages : 71-91

Abstract in English : Southern Pa-O (S. Pa-O) is a Karenic
language of the Tibeto-Burman subgroup
of the Sino-Tibetan language family. In
Thailand, there is a large S. Pa-O
community around Rama II Road. This
study aims to investigate the gender
variation in acoustic characteristics of S.
Pa-O lexical tones. F0 in Hertz based on
the biological difference of larynx
vibrating rate was converted into
semitones to normalize cross-speaker
differences. Then, semitone and real time
values of 6 lexical tones (4 non-checked
tones and 2 checked tones) were used to
generate 2nd degree polynomial trendlines
to show F0 contours and shapes.

The results reveal a gender effect on
acoustic characteristics of S. Pa-O tones.
Differences in F0 characteristics between
the male and the female speakers are
found in non-checked tones (T1, T2, T3,
and T4). The two checked tones (T5 and
T6) do not show distinguishable F0
characteristics. The F0 gender
characteristics of T1, T2 and T4 show
differences between genders in terms of F0
contours. The case of T1 and T2 is a
tendency. Regarding T1, the male speakers
produce the tone with a falling-rising
contour and the females with a rising
contour. The F0 contours of the males’ T2
tend to be level while those of the female’s
T2 tend to be falling. The gender difference
of T4 is dichotomous. The males’ T4 is falling,
and the females’ T4 is rising-falling.
Despite a similar F0 contour, the T3 of the
male and female speakers can be differentiated
by the F0 shapes. The F0 shapes of the males’ T3
are all curved, while those of the females’
T3 are linear. All in all, the gender
variation in S. Pa-O tones is confirmed in
the acoustic study.