Relationship between acoustically observed F0 and perceived pitch for Japanese accent and intonation

摘要

In our previous report, a method was proposed for identifying accent types and intonation patterns of Japanese, where mora-basis pitch values (FOmora's) were defined in several ways and tested. In the present research, the candidates of FOmora were checked how they were related perceived mora pitch values. For this purpose, MIDI sounds were used as references to be compared with perceived mora pitch values, and a tool (software) was constructed to allow subjects to adjust MIDI sound pitch. We used syllables segmented from natural utterances, and asked subjects to adjust MIDI sound pitch to the perceived pitch of a syllable. For each syllable, a value was calculated as an average of MIDI sound pitch values among subjects and was used as the human-perceived mora pitch. Then, this value was compared with the candidates of the corresponding FOmora.