Does our voice really change depending on the language we speak?
What is it about?
A lot of people notice that their voice change when they speak a different language than their mother-tongue. This article presents an experimental research that compares the voices of French speakers speaking English and English speakers speaking French. The goal was to see if one language was spoken on a higher pitch than another regardless of the origin of the speaker.
Why is it important?
Research on voice variation across languages within individuals is still growing. The originality of this study lies in the fact that it combines an analysis of the voice of speakers in their mother-tongue and their second language, with an analysis of two groups of speakers (English natives vs French natives). It also involves the comparison of three speech styles (reading, video retelling and informal conversation) , and a separate analysis of voiced pauses.