Intrinsic fundamental frequency of Amharic vowels

Intrinsic fundamental frequency (IF0) refers to the cross-linguistic tendency for high vowels to have a higher F0 than low vowels (Whalen and Levitt, 1995). IF0 is often thought to be a result of mechanical coupling, where tongue movement causes changes in the laryngeal structures, perturbing the F0. Ohala and Eukel (1987) propose that high vowels lead to increased vertical tension on the true vocal folds, which raises F0. In contrast, the tongue-compression hypothesis proposes that low vowels induce vocal fold slackening, which lowers F0 (Ewan, 1979). The purpose of the present study is to investigate the cause of IF0 by comparing high, mid, and low vowels in Amharic, using audio and EGG signals to measure F0 and contact quotient for different vowel heights. Amharic was chosen because it contrasts three heights of central vowels. The goals are to confirm that IF0 effects are found in Amharic and determine if voice quality changes further support either hypothesis. Discussion will focus on how F0 and contact quotient differ by vowel height, and whether the results support the tongue-pull hypothesis (where IF0 is driven by high tongue position), the tongue-compression hypothesis (where IF0 is driven by low-back tongue position), or both.