Breathy consonants and the spectral tilt

Abstract

Marathi systematically uses breathy versus modal phonation to distinguish consonants that vary manner and place. Previous studies on spectral tilt have only analyzed breathy stops and vowels. The current study analyzed breathy and modal versions of five different alveopalatal consonant manners, namely, stops, nasals, lateral approximants, fricatives and affricates. It examined one specific measure of spectral tilt measure, the difference between the fundamental frequency and the most prominent harmonic in the first formant region. This study used a repeated measures 2 X 5 ANOVA and found a main effect of phonation type as well as consonant manner. It also found a significant interaction between phonation type and consonant manner. The findings of this study imply that spectral tilt is a robust measure that holds across consonant manners. It is possible that spectral tilt may be used as a perceptual cue independently or in combination with other acoustic correlates.