A shared control parameter for F0 and intensity

Fundamental frequency of vocal fold vibration (F0) and acoustic intensity are correlated for physiological and linguistic reasons. Previous studies have established that aerodynamic factors and vocal fold control mechanisms are partly responsible for the correlation. Intonational accents are also a source of co-variation of F0 and intensity. This paper addresses the question of whether these physiological and linguistic mechanisms are sufficient to account for observable relations between F0 and intensity in a carefully controlled context. Analyses of over 14,000 H*+L pitch accents from an imitation study indicate that in addition to physiological and linguistic mechanisms, there is a shared control parameter that induces covariation in F0 and intensity. This parameter is proposed to reflect variation in attention, cognitive effort, and/or arousal.