Lexically specific accumulation in memory of word and segment speech rates

Variability abounds in speech. According to usage-based accounts, lexical representations reflect phonetic variants of words resulting from contextual conditioning. Because faster speech contexts promote durational shortening of words and segments, words that occur more often in fast speech may be more reduced than words commonly used in slow speech, independent of the target’s contextual speech rate. To test this, linear mixed-effects models including a word form’s ratio of conditioning by fast speech contexts (FRCRATE) are used to predict the duration of Spanish /s/ and words containing /s/ in a corpus of spoken Spanish. Results show that words’ cumulative exposure to relatively fast speech affects phonetic realizations independent of factors operative in the production contexts. Thus, word and segment rates reflect cumulative (lexicalized) effects of words’ experience in fast speech contexts. The results suggest that lexically specific cumulative measures should be incorporated into models of linguistic variation and change.

Neuromotor Speech Recovery Across Different Behavioral Speech Modifications in Individuals Following Facial Transplantation

Despite signs of facial nerve recovery within a few months following face transplantation, speech deficits persist for years. Behavioral speech modifications (e.g., slower-than-normal speaking rate and increased loudness) have shown promising potential to enhance speech intelligibility in populations with dysarthric speech. However, such evidence-based practice approach is lacking in clinical management of speech in individuals with facial transplantation. Because facial transplantation involves complex craniofacial reconstruction and facial nerve coaptation, it is unknown to what extent individuals with face transplant are capable of adapting their motor system to task-specific articulatory demands. The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying articulatory mechanisms employed by individuals with face transplantation in response to speech modification cues at early and late stages of neuromotor recovery. In addition, we aimed to identify speech modifications that conferred improved speech clarity. Participants were seven individuals who underwent full or partial facial vascularized composite allografts that included lips and muscles of facial animation and were in early (~2 months) or late (~42 months) stages of recovery. Participants produced repetitions of the sentence “Buy Bobby a puppy” in normal, fast, loud, and slow speech modifications. Articulatory movement traces were recorded using a 3D optical motion capture system. Kinematic measures of average speed (mm/s) and range of movement (mm3) were extracted from the lower lip (± jaw) marker. Two speech language pathologists rated speech clarity for each speaker using a visual analog scale (VAS) approach. Results demonstrated that facial motor capacity increased from early to late stages of recovery. While individuals in the early group exhibited restricted capabilities to adjust their motor system based on the articulatory demands of each speech modification, individuals in the late group demonstrated faster speed and larger-than-normal range of movement for loud speech, and slower speed and larger-than-normal range of movement for slow speech. In addition, subjects in both groups showed overreliance on jaw rather than lip articulatory function across all speech modifications, perhaps as a compensatory strategy to optimize articulatory stability and maximize speech function. Finally, improved speech clarity was associated with loud speech in both stages of recovery.

Moses’s Slow Speech: Hybrid Identity, Language Acquisition, and the Meaning of Exodus 4:10

In changing our focus to examine the children and the childhoods of the characters in the Bible we can gain new insights into the biblical text. This essay applies childist interpretation to a question that has long puzzled scholars: What did Moses mean when he said: “I am heavy (כבד) of speech and heavy (כבד) of tongue” (Exod 4:10). Scholars have suggested it meant Moses had a speech impediment or that he lost his ability to speak Egyptian eloquently during his years in Midian. I suggest, however, that these previous answers have overlooked a crucial stage in Moses’ development: his childhood. Moses’ unique childhood and transition from Hebrew slave child to adopted Egyptian prince creates within him a hybrid identity. His hybrid identity, in turn, manifested itself in Hebrew language attrition, which causes him to protest that he is “heavy of speech and tongue.”

What do we know about Foreign Accent Syndrome? – Letter to the Editor

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a speech disorder with sudden changes in speech patterns resulting in affected people perceived to have a new non-native accent. Characteristic changes in language concluded in interviews provide some initial insight into the syndrome.1 The control group (without disorders) had normal speech and grammar, patients with language-speech disorders faced difficulty in speaking whereas FAS patients were labelled ‘foreign’ due to frequent hesitation, slow speech, inappropriate grammar and word selection.1 A great deal of time has been dedicated to understanding FAS, however, a varied patient presentation and underlying pathophysiology has led to difficulties in diagnosing the disorder and evaluating its true epidemiology.

Infantilization of the Older Generation as a Factor of their Self-Limiting Attitudes and Practices

The paper raises the problem of the negative impact of patronizing attitude towards older people on their life practices, which is one of the manifestations of ageism. Patronizing behavior that is implemented towards the older generation in the form of simpli-fied language, exaggerated intonations, slow speech, a tendency to make decisions about the life of an elderly person, ignoring his opinion, etc., in turn, can have an infantilizing effect on the elderly person, forcing him to take a subordinate position. The study, based on empirical data, proves that this, in turn, causes self-limiting practices of older peo-ple. Representatives of the older generation who succumb to the influence of the negative social construct of old age transmitted by others, and as a result adopt a subordinate position, have higher risks of minimizing interpersonal, social and creative activity. Their way of life, in comparison with those who oppose the patronizing attitude or evaluate it negatively, is more focused on the “generally ac-cepted”. They are more likely to abandon their goals, plans, due to their own idea that at their age they are “not up to the task”, less often they act contrary to the opinion of others “about the right and wrong at this age”, refusing to defend their position. Accept-ing the patronizing attitude with gratitude, at the same time, they are more likely than those who are annoyed by this attitude to ignore health-saving practices, considering that diseases are an indis-pensable attribute of old age, so it is pointless to fight them. They are more likely to give up pleasures, joys, desired things in favor of younger people, con-sidering themselves unworthy of them. In conclu-sion, the article suggests ways to solve the identi-fied problem.

Tongue- and Jaw-Specific Articulatory Changes and Their Acoustic Consequences in Talkers With Dysarthria due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Effects of Loud, Clear, and Slow Speech

Purpose This study aimed to determine how tongue and jaw displacement changes impact acoustic vowel contrast in talkers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and controls. Method Ten talkers with ALS and 14 controls participated in this study. Loud, clear, and slow speech cues were used to elicit tongue and jaw kinematic as well as acoustic changes. Speech kinematics was recorded using three-dimensional articulography. Independent tongue and jaw displacements were extracted during the diphthong /ai/ in kite . Acoustic distance between diphthong onset and offset in Formant 1–Formant 2 vowel space indexed acoustic vowel contrast. Results In both groups, all three speech modifications elicited increases in jaw displacement (typical < slow < loud < clear). By contrast, only slow speech elicited significantly increased independent tongue displacement in the ALS group (typical = loud = clear < slow), whereas all three speech modifications elicited significantly increased independent tongue displacement in controls (typical < loud < clear = slow). Furthermore, acoustic vowel contrast significantly increased in response to clear and slow speech in the ALS group, whereas all three speech modifications elicited significant increases in acoustic vowel contrast in controls (typical < loud < slow < clear). Finally, only jaw displacements accounted for acoustic vowel contrast gains in the ALS group. In controls, however, independent tongue displacements accounted for increases in vowel acoustic contrast during loud and slow speech, whereas jaw and independent tongue displacements accounted equally for acoustic vowel contrast change during clear speech. Conclusion Kinematic findings suggest that slow speech may be better suited to target independent tongue displacements in talkers with ALS than clear and loud speech. However, given that gains in acoustic vowel contrast were comparable for slow and clear speech cues in these talkers, future research is needed to determine potential differential impacts of slow and clear speech on perceptual measures, such as intelligibility. Finally, findings suggest that acoustic vowel contrast gains are predominantly jaw driven in talkers with ALS. Therefore, the acoustic and perceptual consequences of direct instructions of enhanced jaw movements should be compared to cued speech modification, such as clear and slow speech in these talkers.

Methodology Matters: The Impact of Research Design on Conversational Entrainment Outcomes

Purpose Conversational entrainment describes the tendency for individuals to alter their communicative behaviors to more closely align with those of their conversation partner. This communication phenomenon has been widely studied, and thus, the methodologies used to examine it are diverse. Here, we summarize key differences in research design and present a test case to examine the effect of methodology on entrainment outcomes. Method Sixty neurotypical adults were randomly assigned to experimental groups formed by a 2 × 2 factorial combination of two independent variables: stimuli organization (blocked vs. random presentation) and stimuli modality (auditory-only vs. audiovisual stimuli). Individuals participated in a quasiconversational design in which the speech of a virtual interlocutor was manipulated to produce fast and slow speech rate conditions. Results There was a significant effect of stimuli organization on entrainment outcomes. Individuals in the blocked, but not the random, groups altered their speech rate to align with the speech rate of the virtual interlocutor. There were no effect of stimuli modality and no interaction between modality and organization on entrainment outcomes. Conclusion Findings highlight the importance of methodological decisions on entrainment outcomes. This underscores the need for more comprehensive research regarding entrainment methodology.

Distortions in Time Perception: How the Production Rate of Linguistic Stimuli Influences the Perception of Elapsed Time

In this study we examined whether the exposure to speed-altered audio clips of speech-like stimuli can distort systematically the subjective sense of time. Participants listened to stimuli of varying durations and speeds and reproduced their durations. Results revealed that both speed and actual duration influenced the length of reproduced durations. In particular, participants reproduced durations as longer when they listened to fast compared to slow speech-like stimuli of the same actual duration. In addition, the reproduced durations of long stimuli deviated more from their veridical durations compared to those of short stimuli. Notably, a significant interaction indicated that the effect of speed was greater for stimuli of short than of long actual durations. We argue that listening to fast speech-like stimuli speeds up the pacemaker component of the internal clock, leading to overestimation of the actual duration. The implications of these findings for the theories of time perception are discussed.