Vedic chanting and vowel intrinsic pitch: Evidence from an ancient source

The purpose of this paper is to shed further light on the aetiology and speech specific nature of vowel intrinsic fundamental frequency (IF0), by investigating its presence in vedic chanting. This is one of the earliest forms of chanting (circa 5000 years old) which is still prevalent today, predating much of Indian classical music. It is interesting to study vedic chanting as it represents the borderline between speech and singing. There are three distinct tone levels in this chanting referred to as: (a) udatta high, (b) anudatta low, and (c) svarita, in‐between. Sanskrit grammarians classify vowels according to the position of the tongue body and use the same labels as above for marking the tones. The interaction of vowel height and tone level in this vocal mode is investigated. Several vedic passages from three chanters with different vowels occurring with the same tone level and different tone levels for the same vowel have been recorded. Initial measurements of F0 suggest that chanters can override the effect of IF0 to achieve the same relative pitch values. This implies that the effect of IF0 depends on vocal mode and an active control of IF0 is possible.