Pitch

Definition

Pitch refers to the acoustic properties of spoken language which are correlated with higher and lower sounds (Zsiga, 2013, p. 116). For example, a higher pitch sound will have fast vocal fold vibrations and therefore will have a higher frequency of sound waves (cycles per second/hertz) than lower pitched sounds, in a given time measurement. Lower pitched sounds, however, have a slower vocal fold vibration rate which results in a lower frequency (less) of sounds waves in a time measurement than higher pitch sounds.

Examples

Skwxwú7mesh: In an investigation of the acoustic properties which are affected by stress in Skwxwú7mesh, Watt et al. (2000) demonstrate that pitch is a relevant factor when distinguishing stressed versus unstressed syllables in the language. The mean pitches are given in a table below of the suffix -alh and the single vowel /a/ (p. 208).

In this table, the mean frequencies (hertz or cycles per second) are calculated. The data in the table indicates that the suffix -alh (140.625 Hz) would be perceptually higher than the single vowel /a/ (136.222 Hz) (Watt et al., 2000, p. 208).