Acoustic variability in creaky voice

Abstract

Creaky voice is common in human communication and is studied across a very wide range of academic disciplines. At least seven different functions have been attested: marking phonemic contrasts on vowels and/or on consonants; serving as an allophone of a glottal stop; a result of (and a cue to) coarticulation with adjacent consonants; in the production and perception of tonal contrasts; as a marker of prosodic boundaries; as a cue to group membership, personal identity, or emotional state; and as a symptom of a phonatory disorder. This talk will focus on the acoustics of creak across these many functions, in the belief that such descriptions will improve our understanding of the vocal phenomena in question and the meanings they express. These analyses may allow us to compare degrees of creakiness across functions, and may help establish clear descriptions of different types of creakiness.