TY - GEN
T1 - Creaky voice facilitates more efficient phonological processing of Mandarin Tone 3
AU - Fan, Zixia
AU - Ibrahim, Ronny Kurniawan
AU - Penney, Joshua
AU - Cox, Felicity
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Though tone recognition is primarily influenced by pitch cues, phonation type may also play a role. For example, creaky voice, a non-modal phonation, can enhance Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) recognition. While most studies explore creaky voice in tone recognition behaviorally, its neural processing remains unclear. This study aims to investigate tone processing using electroencephalography to examine how the brain integrates pitch and creaky voice to process T3. We measured Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses of 10 native Mandarin speakers exposed to an oddball paradigm with real-word single syllable stimuli in two conditions: creak and non-creak. Results showed stronger MMN responses in the creak condition, with larger mean MMN amplitude, shorter peak MMN latency, and larger negative peak amplitude. These findings suggest that creaky voice enhances T3 distinctiveness and facilitates more efficient phonological processing, contributing to a deeper understanding of tone processing mechanisms.
AB - Though tone recognition is primarily influenced by pitch cues, phonation type may also play a role. For example, creaky voice, a non-modal phonation, can enhance Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) recognition. While most studies explore creaky voice in tone recognition behaviorally, its neural processing remains unclear. This study aims to investigate tone processing using electroencephalography to examine how the brain integrates pitch and creaky voice to process T3. We measured Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses of 10 native Mandarin speakers exposed to an oddball paradigm with real-word single syllable stimuli in two conditions: creak and non-creak. Results showed stronger MMN responses in the creak condition, with larger mean MMN amplitude, shorter peak MMN latency, and larger negative peak amplitude. These findings suggest that creaky voice enhances T3 distinctiveness and facilitates more efficient phonological processing, contributing to a deeper understanding of tone processing mechanisms.
KW - tone recognition
KW - phonation
KW - creaky voice
KW - Mandarin tone
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105020069385
U2 - 10.21437/Interspeech.2025-1168
DO - 10.21437/Interspeech.2025-1168
M3 - Conference proceeding contribution
T3 - Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH
SP - 1303
EP - 1307
BT - INTERSPEECH 2025
PB - International Speech Communication Association (ISCA)
CY - Baixas, France
T2 - Interspeech Conference (26th : 2025)
Y2 - 17 August 2025 through 21 August 2025
ER -