Intoxication and pitch control in tonal and non-tonal language speakers

Alcohol intoxication is known to affect pitch variability in non-tonal languages. In this study, intoxication's effects on pitch were examined in tonal and non-tonal language speakers, in both their native language (L1; German, Korean, Mandarin) and nonnative language (L2; English). Intoxication significantly increased pitch variability in the German group (in L1 and L2), but not in the Korean or Mandarin groups (in L1 or L2), although there were individual differences. These results support the view that pitch control is related to the functional load of pitch and is an aspect of speech production that can be advantageously transferred across languages, overriding the expected effects of alcohol.

酒精中毒众所周知会影响非音调语言中的音高变化。在本研究中，我们对酒精对音高的影响进行了考察，考察对象包括音调语言和非音调语言的演讲者，包括他们的母语（L1；德语、韩语、普通话）和外语（L2；英语）。在德语组中（无论是母语还是外语），酒精显著增加了音高变化，而在韩语或普通话组中（无论是母语还是外语），并未观察到这种现象，尽管存在个体差异。这些结果支持了以下观点：音高控制与音高的功能负荷相关，是语音产生过程中可被有益地跨语言迁移的方面，可以超越酒精的预期影响。