scholarly journals Gestural overlap across word boundaries: Evidence from English and Mandarin speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Luo
Keyword(s):  
Slow Rate ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Order Effect ◽  
Lexical Effect ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Gestural Overlap

AbstractThis article examines how three factors determine the surface forms of English stop-stop coarticulation across word boundaries in both native and nonnative speech: place of articulation, frequency, and speech rate. The release percentage and closure duration ratio produced by English (L1) and Mandarin (L2) speakers were measured. The results showed that a place order effect was only partially supported in L1 speech but not shown at all in L2 speech. The results also confirmed a gradient lexical effect, finding a significant correlation between self-rated frequency and overlap. In addition, the results showed that increased speech rate did not induce increased overlap, given that speakers from both groups had either more or less overlap at the fast speech rate than at the slow rate.

scholarly journals Initial laryngeal neutralisation in Tyrolean

Phonology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Vietti ◽  
Birgit Alber ◽  
Barbara Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Closure Duration

In the Southern Bavarian variety of Tyrolean, laryngeal contrasts undergo a typologically interesting process of neutralisation in word-initial position. We undertake an acoustic analysis of Tyrolean stops in word-initial, word-medial intersonorant and word-final contexts, as well as in obstruent clusters, investigating the role of the acoustic parameters VOT, prevoicing, closure duration and F0 and H1–H2* on following vowels in implementing contrast, if any. Results show that stops contrast word-medially via [voice] (supported by the acoustic cues of closure duration and F0), and are neutralised completely in word-final position and in obstruent clusters. Word-initially, neutralisation is subject to inter- and intraspeaker variability, and is sensitive to place of articulation. Aspiration plays no role in implementing laryngeal contrasts in Tyrolean.

scholarly journals Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Phonetic Realization

This paper reports results of a quantitative phonetic study of Kabardian, a Northwest Caucasian language that is of typological interest from a phonetic standpoint. A number of cross-linguistically rare properties are examined. These features include the phonetic realization of Kabardian's small vowel inventory, which contains only three contrastive vowel qualities (two short vowels and one long vowel), spectral characteristics of the ten supralaryngeal voiceless fricatives of Kabardian, as well as the acoustic, palatographic, and aerodynamic characteristics of ejective fricatives, an extremely rare type of segment cross-linguistically. In addition, basic properties of the consonant stop series are explored, including closure duration and voice onset time, in order to test postulated universals linking these properties to place of articulation and laryngeal setting.

scholarly journals Phonetic variability and grammatical knowledge: an articulatory study of Korean place assimilation

Phonology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexei Kochetov ◽  
Marianne Pouplier
Keyword(s):  
Speech Rate ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Place Assimilation ◽  
Assimilation Process

The study reported here uses articulatory data to investigate Korean place assimilation of coronal stops followed by labial or velar stops, both within words and across words. The results show that this place-assimilation process is highly variable, both within and across speakers, and is also sensitive to factors such as the place of articulation of the following consonant, the presence of a word boundary and, to some extent, speech rate. Gestures affected by the process are generally reduced categorically (deleted), while sporadic gradient reduction of gestures is also observed. We further compare the results for coronals to our previous findings on the assimilation of labials, discussing implications of the results for grammatical models of phonological/phonetic competence. The results suggest that speakers' language-particular knowledge of place assimilation has to be relatively detailed and context-sensitive, and has to encode systematic regularities about its obligatory/variable application as well as categorical/gradient realisation.

The Main and Interactive Effect of Oral Reading Rate on the Frequency of Stuttering

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Vanryckeghem ◽  
Jeffrey J. Glessing ◽  
Gene J. Brutten ◽  
Peter McAlindon
Keyword(s):  
Oral Reading ◽  
Slow Rate ◽  
Fast Rate ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Reading Rate ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Rate Condition ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Significant Difference

Twenty-four adults participated in a 2 (group) by 3 (rate) factorial study designed to determine the main and interactive effects of speech rate during reading on the frequency of stuttering. In this regard, the participants orally read three passages, one at their normal rate, one that was 30% faster than this rate, and one that was 30% slower. Rate was controlled by means of a computer software program, and passage order and reading rate were counter-balanced. The main effect of rate was significant. There was statistically more stuttering in the fast rate condition than in either the normal or slow rate condition. However, the frequency of stuttering in the normal and the slow rate conditions was not significantly different. Analysis of the experimental data of the eight participants who stuttered the most and the eight who stuttered the least, during base-rate oral readings, evidenced the presence of an interaction between group and rate. Those who stuttered the most showed a statistically significant increase in stuttering between the slow, normal, and fast rate conditions. In contrast, there was no significant difference in frequency between any of the three conditions for the group of eight participants who stuttered the least. These findings suggest that the extent to which rate affects fluency is a function of the degree to which stuttering is displayed. This possibility warrants consideration in relation to the use of rate management procedures.

scholarly journals Acoustic and Perceptual Consequences of Speech Cues for Mandarin Speakers With Parkinson's Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-535
Author(s):  
Sih-Chiao Hsu ◽  
Megan J. McAuliffe ◽  
Peiyi Lin ◽  
Ruey-Meei Wu ◽  
Erika S. Levy
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Pause Duration ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Slow Condition ◽  
Speech Cues ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

PurposeThis study investigated the effects of cueing for increased loudness and reduced speech rate on scaled intelligibility and acoustics of speech produced by Mandarin speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria due to Parkinson's disease (PD).MethodEleven speakers with PD read passages in habitual, loud, and slow speaking conditions. Fifteen listeners rated ease of understanding (EOU) of the speech samples on a visual analog scale. Effects of the cues on EOU, vocal loudness, pitch range, pause duration and frequency, articulation rate, and vowel space, as well as relationships between EOU gains and acoustic features, were analyzed.ResultsEOU increased significantly in the loud condition only. The loud cue resulted in increased intensity, and the slow cue resulted both in reduced articulation rate and increased pause frequency. In the loud condition, EOU increased significantly as intensity increased and vowel centralization decreased. In the slow condition, EOU tended to increase as intensity increased and vowel centralization decreased but did not reach statistical significance.ConclusionCueing for loud speech may yield greater EOU gains than cueing for slow speech in Mandarin speakers with PD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed, although further investigations with more participants and a larger range of dysarthria severity are warranted.

An acoustic study of trans-vocalic ejective pairs in Cochabamba Quechua

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Gallagher ◽  
James Whang
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Word Boundaries

Cochabamba Quechua disallows pairs of ejectives within roots (*[k’it’ɑ]), but this structure may arise across word boundaries, e.g. [misk’it’ɑntɑ] ‘good bread’. This paper presents an acoustic study of these phonotactically legal, trans-vocalic ejective pairs that occur at word boundaries. It is found that Cochabamba Quechua speakers de-ejectivize one of the two ejectives in such phrases a significant portion of the time, and that, in correct productions with two ejectives, the period between the two ejectives is lengthened by increasing the duration of the vowel and the closure duration of the second ejective.

scholarly journals The private life of stops: VOT in a real-time corpus of spontaneous Glaswegian

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Stuart-Smith ◽  
Morgan Sonderegger ◽  
Tamara Rathcke ◽  
Rachel Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Naturally Occurring

AbstractWhile voice onset time (VOT) is known to be sensitive to a range of phonetic and linguistic factors, much less is known about VOT in spontaneous speech, since most studies consider stops in single words, in sentences, and/or in read speech. Scottish English is typically said to show less aspirated voiceless stops than other varieties of English, but there is also variation, ranging from unaspirated stops in vernacular speakers to more aspirated stops in Scottish Standard English; change in the vernacular has also been suggested. This paper presents results from a study which used a fast, semi-automated procedure for analyzing positive VOT, and applied it to stressed syllable-initial stops from a real- and apparent-time corpus of naturally-occurring spontaneous Glaswegian vernacular speech. We confirm significant effects on VOT for place of articulation and local speaking rate, and trends for vowel height and lexical frequency. With respect to time, our results are not consistent with previous work reporting generally shorter VOT in elderly speakers, since our results from models which control for local speech rate show lengthening over real-time in the elderly speakers in our sample. Overall, our findings suggest that VOT in both voiceless and voiced stops is lengthening over the course of the twentieth century in this variety of Scottish English. They also support observations from other studies, both from Scotland and beyond, indicating that gradient shifts along the VOT continuum reflect subtle sociolinguistic control.

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