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Abstract:
In many languages of the world, the contour of the voice
fundamental frequency (henceforth F0) is used to convey
linguistic, para-linguistic, and non-linguistic information. Yet
the underlying physiological and physical mechanisms for its
generation are not fully understood. This paper first presents
the authors' view on these mechanisms in the case of F0 contours
of languages including Common Japanese which generally use only
positive local changes in F0 to express lexical accents, and then
describes a functional model for the process of F0 contour
generation with its mathematical formulation. It then takes up
Standard Chinese as an example of languages which use both
positive and negative local changes in F0 to express lexical
tones, and attempts to explain the underlying mechanisms in terms
of activities of both cricothyroid and thyrohyoid muscles, the
former being responsible for active raising, the latter for
active lowering of F0.
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