Assets and liabilities of simple descriptors of fundamental frequency tracks

Abstract

The chapter offers a comparative analysis of fundamental frequency (F0) descriptors of Czech, English and Czech English read speech. The focus is put on the methodological and cross-linguistic aspects.

The emerging pattern of differences between the speaker groups seems more complex than previously suggested in literature but the findings will have to be complemented by listening experiments. Important methodological issues are also discussed, namely the question of convenient simplification of complex F0 tracks and the limitations it entails.

Keywords

• fundamental frequency descriptors
• F0
• English
• Czech
• cross-linguistic