Fundamental Frequency in Monolingual English, Bilingual English/Russian, and Bilingual English/Cantonese Young Adult Women

SummaryMean F0 of nine young adult English/Russian female bilinguals and nine young adult English/Cantonese female bilinguals were examined from samples of connected speech in each language. Mean F0 were compared in each language and in English with those of a monolingual English control group of ten young adult female speakers. Acoustic measurements were analyzed with the Kay Elemetrics Multispeech program (Kay Elemetrics, Lincoln Park, NJ). The results indicate that the English/Russian bilinguals consistently had a higher mean F0 in Russian than in English. Mean F0 did not change with language switch for the English/Cantonese speakers. There were no significant differences between the groups in their English production. Clinical implications regarding norms for both monolingual and bilingual persons, as well as implications for understanding the nature of bilingualism, in particular code-switching, are discussed.