Increased Breathiness in Adolescent Kiezdeutsch Speakers: A Marker of Multiethnolectal Group Affiliation?

Kiezdeutsch is a multiethnolectal variety of German spoken by young people from multicultural communities that exhibits lexical, syntactic, and phonetic differences from standard German. A rather salient and pervasive feature of this variety is the fronting of the standard palatal fricative /ç/ (as in "I") to [ɕ] or [ʃ]. Previous perception work shows that this difference is salient and carries social meaning but dependent on the listener group.

Effects of testosterone on speech production and perception: Linking hormone levels in males to vocal cues and female voice attractiveness ratings.

This study sets out to investigate the potential effect of males' testosterone level on speech production and speech perception. Regarding speech production, we investigate intra- and inter-individual variation in mean fundamental frequency (f) and formant frequencies and highlight the potential interacting effect of another hormone, i.e.

The Effect of Fundamental Frequency on Gender Perception in Prepubertal Children: Insights from the LoKiS Database.

This study examines the impact of fundamental frequency on gender perception in prepubertal children in the LoKiS database - a longitudinal project collecting and analyzing recordings of approximately 60 German primary school children aged 6 to 10years. Spontaneous and content-controlled audio recordings were collected in two German primary schools. Three distinct listening experiments with over 100 listeners were conducted.

Situating language register across the ages, languages, modalities, and cultural aspects: Evidence from complementary methods.

In the present review paper by members of the collaborative research center "Register: Language Users' Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation" (CRC 1412), we assess the pervasiveness of register phenomena across different time periods, languages, modalities, and cultures. We define "register" as recurring variation in language use depending on the function of language and on the social situation. Informed by rich data, we aim to better understand and model the knowledge involved in situation- and function-based use of language register.

The Social Meaning of Contextualized Sibilant Alternations in Berlin German.

In Berlin, the pronunciation of /ç/ as [ɕ] is associated with the multi-ethnic youth variety (). This alternation is also known to be produced by French learners of German. While listeners form socio-cultural interpretations upon hearing language input, the associations differ depending on the listeners' biases and stereotypes toward speakers or groups.

Effects of Gender, Parental Role, and Time on Infant- and Adult-Directed Read and Spontaneous Speech.

Purpose The study sets out to investigate inter- and intraspeaker variation in German infant-directed speech (IDS) and considers the potential impact that the factors gender, parental involvement, and speech material (read vs. spontaneous speech) may have. In addition, we analyze data from 3 time points prior to and after the birth of the child to examine potential changes in the features of IDS and, particularly also, of adult-directed speech (ADS).

Gender identity is indexed and perceived in speech.

This study investigates a possible relationship between perceived and self-ascribed gender identity and the respective acoustic correlates in a group of young heterosexual adult speakers. For the production study, a sample of 37 German speaking subjects (20 males, 17 females) filled out a questionnaire to assess their self-ascribed masculinity/femininity on two scales. A range of acoustic parameters (acoustic vowel space size, fundamental frequency, sibilant spectral characteristics) were measured in speech collected from a picture describing task.

Spectral moments vs discrete cosine transformation coefficients: Evaluation of acoustic measures distinguishing two merging German fricatives.

The results of the quantification of the acoustic differences between German /ç/ and /ʃ/ in three speaker groups with varying contrast realizations are presented. Data for two speaker groups were collected in Berlin and Kiel, where the contrast is still realized. Data for a third group were collected in Berlin from speakers of Hood German-a youth-style multiethnolect spoken by adolescents in multilingual and multicultural neighborhoods of Berlin-where the contrast has weakened or is even lost.

Mumbling: Macho or Morphology?

Purpose: Mumbling as opposed to clear speech is a typical male characteristic in speech and can be the consequence of a small jaw opening. Whereas behavioral reasons have often been offered to explain sex-specific differences with respect to clear speech, the purpose of this study is to investigate a potential anatomical reason for smaller jaw openings in male than in female speakers.

Method: Articulatory data from 2 data sets (American English and German) were analyzed with respect to jaw opening in low vowels during speech.

Palatal morphology can influence speaker-specific realizations of phonemic contrasts.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to further explore the understanding of speaker-specific realizations of the /s/-/ʃ/ contrast in German in relation to individual differences in palate shape.

Method: Two articulatory experiments were carried out with German native speakers. In the first experiment, 4 monozygotic and 2 dizygotic twin pairs were recorded by means of electromagnetic articulography.

Inter-speaker articulatory variability during vowel-consonant-vowel sequences in twins and unrelated speakers.

The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the amount of inter-speaker variability in the articulation of monozygotic twin pairs (MZ), dizygotic twin pairs (DZ), and pairs of unrelated twins with the goal of examining in greater depth the influence of physiology on articulation. Physiological parameters are assumed to be very similar in MZ twin pairs in contrast to DZ twin pairs or unrelated speakers, and it is hypothesized that the speaker specific shape of articulatory looping trajectories of the tongue is at least partly dependent on biomechanical properties and the speaker's individual physiology. By means of electromagnetic articulography (EMA), inter-speaker variability in the looping trajectories of the tongue back during /VCV/ sequences is analyzed.

Investigating the relationship between average speaker fundamental frequency and acoustic vowel space size.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between speaking fundamental frequency and acoustic vowel space size, thus testing a possible perceptual source of sex-specific differences in acoustic vowel space size based on the greater inter-harmonic spacing and a poorer definition of the spectral envelope of higher pitched voices. Average fundamental frequencies and acoustic vowel spaces of 56 female German speakers are analyzed. Several parameters are used to quantify the size and shape of the vowel space defined by /iː ε aː [symbol: see text] uː/ such as the area of the polygon spanned by the five vowels, the absolute difference in F1 or F2 between /iː/ and /uː/ or /aː/, and the Euclidian distance between /iː/ and /aː/.