(Canadian) Raise your vowels in song

Abstract

It has been claimed that Canadian raising (CR), in which certain diphthongs raise
before voiceless consonants, arises from the shortening effect these consonants have on
preceding vowels (Myers 1997). While CR is phonological and occurs regardless of
speech rate, it is unknown to what extent it occurs in singing, in which large differences
in note duration make it impossible to correct for speech rate. This question is
particularly interesting for professional singers, who are trained to modify their vowels.
Trained singers have been shown to have a significantly reduced vowel space (Ophaug
2010) and to maintain a more open jaw posture (Nair et al. 2016), which may interfere
with raising. We report on an experiment in which Canadian singers are asked to say and
sing passages containing multiple tokens of raising vowels followed by voiceless and
voiced consonants. Tokens are embedded in novel lyrics written to fit commonly known
melodies. We test the degree of raising in singing compared to speaking as well as within
each of these production modes. Results contribute to our understanding of the acoustics
of singing and how singer dialect interacts with the acoustic realization of the articulatory
settings of trained singing.
References:
Myers, J. (1997). Canadian raising and the representation of gradient timing relations.
Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 27(1).
Nair, A., Nair, G., & Reishofer, G. (2016). The Low Mandible Maneuver and Its
Resonential Implications for Elite Singers. Journal of Voice, 30(1).
Ophaug, W. (2010). Sangfonetikk: en innføring. Fagbokforlaget.