Absolute pitch is demonstrated in speakers of tone languages
Diana Deutsch, Trevor Henthorn, Mark Dolson · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1999
In two experiments, Vietnamese and Mandarin speakers manifested a precise form of absolute pitch in reading lists of words. In one experiment, seven Vietnamese speakers read out a list of ten words twice, on two separate days. The average pitch of each word was determined by computer analysis, and for each speaker comparisons were made between the average pitches produced by the same word on different days. Remarkable correspondences were obtained: For most speakers, the signed pitch difference, averaged across words, was well within a semitone. In another experiment, 15 Mandarin speakers read out a list of 12 words twice within a session, with the 2 readings separated by roughly 20 s; and in 2 sessions which were held on different days. Again, comparing across sessions, for most speakers the signed pitch difference, averaged across words, was well within a semitone. Furthermore, the differences were no greater when the pitches were compared across sessions than within sessions. These findings demonstrate that tone language speakers are able to refer to a remarkably precise and stable absolute pitch template in producing words. Relationships to other work on absolute pitch are discussed, and the findings are illustrated by sound recordings.