The influence of language and speech task upon creaky voice use among six young American women learning French

This article intends to study the influence of two parameters (language and speech task) on the manifestation of creaky voice among six American women learning French. The speakers were recorded in both reading and spontaneous conditions, in English and French. These languages were chosen for their difference at the phonatory level. The number of creaky voice occurrences, and creakiness timing were calculated. The aim was to answer the following questions: Can American native speakers learning French show a differentiated use of creaky voice depending on the language they speak? Can American native speakers show a variable use of creaky voice whether they read a text or talk spontaneously? Our study shows that the six American speakers of this research show significantly more creaky voice in English than in French and in spontaneous speech than in the reading task. This leads us to consider that phonatory aspects of a language are part of a language itself and that certain speech conditions are more prone to exhibit extreme vocal effects such as creaky voice, given their propensity to expressiveness.