Covariation among vowel height effects on acoustic measures.

Covariation among vowel height effects on vowel intrinsic fundamental frequency (IF(0)), voice onset time (VOT), and voiceless interval duration (VID) is analyzed to assess the plausibility of a common physiological mechanism underlying variation in these measures. Phrases spoken by 20 young adults, containing words composed of initial voiceless stops or /s/ and high or low vowels, were produced in habitual and voluntarily increased F(0) conditions. High vowels were associated with increased IF(0) and longer VIDs. VOT and VID exhibited significant covariation with IF(0) only for males at habitual F(0). The lack of covariation for females and at increased F(0) is discussed.