The Roles of Vowel Fronting, Lengthening, and Listener Variables in the Perception of Vocal Femininity

Purpose

The goal of this study was to test whether fronting and lengthening of lax vowels influence the perception of femininity in listeners whose dialect is characterized as already having relatively fronted and long lax vowels in male and female speech.

Method

Sixteen English words containing the /ɪ ɛ ʊ ɑ/ vowels were produced by a male speaker with 2 degrees of vowel fronting. Then, the vowel duration was manipulated in 3 steps. Thirty-nine listeners from the Southern United States judged how feminine each word sounded to them on an interval scale.

Results

The results of mixed-effects modeling showed that the words with more fronted and longer variants of the vowels were perceived as more feminine than the same words with less fronted and shorter variants of the vowels. These effects, however, were modulated by the vowel type, listener's area of upbringing, and gender.

Conclusions

Fronting (except for /ʊ/) and lengthening of lax vowels make words sound more feminine for Southern listeners, which has implications for clients who wish to modify the perception of femininity invoked by their speech. The relative strength of the gender and regional associations of these vowel characteristics should be further examined across dialects.

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