Cross-language analysis of VCV coarticulation. Michelle R. Molis (Dept. of ... Navajo and the implications for a theory of vowel dispersion. Joyce. McDonough ...
rates. In the study, four speech tasks including a script reading, a paragraph production, an isolated sentence production, and five sentences with varying lengths were performed at both habitual and maximum rates by 50 male and 50 female adults. A faster and a slower groups of talkers were selected for both genders based on their script reading times in the distribution of overall speaking rates. The average articulation rates for both sexes were then calculated, respectively, from both groups of talkers. Although the slow talkers increased their rates from habitual to maximum to a greater degree than the fast talkers, their maximum rates fell well short of the maximum rates of the fast talkers. Fast talkers may have changed their rates less dramatically across the rate conditions because their habitual rates were already close to maximum rates. These findings were true for both genders and suggested that neuromuscular constraints yield the crucial contribution to the control of individuals' speech rates. [Work supported by UW—Madison Speech Acoustic Laboratory.] 3pSP20. Cross-language analysis of VCV coarticulation. Michelle R. Molis (Dept. of Psychol., Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712), Bjorn Lindblom (Stockholm Univ., Stockholm, Sweden), Wendy Castleman (Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712), and Rene Carre (ENST, Paris, France) Ohman [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 39, 151-168 (1966)] reported superposition of a consonant closure gesture on a vowel-to-vowel transition was sufficient to describe VCV coarticulation; however, other researchers [R. McAllister and O. Engstrand, Fonetik, 115-119 (1992)] have found a language-dependent articulatory trough in the movement of the tongue during some VCV sequences. Such a trough would limit the possible extent of coarticulation. In this study, one male speaker each of American English, French, and Swedish produced VCV sequences. Vowels included A/, /a/, and /u/. For each of three stop consonants (/b/, /p/, and /d/), an index of coarticulation was obtained through calculation of a locus equation. In addition, coarticulation indices were obtained from the output of an acoustic tube model that uses superposition to generate VCV sequences. Preliminary results indicated that superposition alone predicted coarticulation of unaspirated stops in all languages, but was not sufficient to explain the reduced coarticulation observed for aspirated stops. Reduction in degree of coarticulation corresponded qualitatively with the language dependent extent of the articulatory trough. With modifications intended to simulate an articulatory trough, the model successfully simulated the qualitative change in cross-linguistic coarticulation.
3pSP21. Evaluation of individual differences in vowel perception through mimicry. John W. Hawks, Bonnie E. Quinn, and Kimberly A. Anthony (School of Speech Pathol, and Audiol., Kent State Univ., Kent, OH 44242) In a mapping study using synthetic versions of isolated vowels, certain stimuli seemingly evoked very consistent perceptions of a given vowel quality to individuals that was different from the plurality of listeners. An imitation paradigm was employed to further investigate these differences. Subjects mimicked exemplar, ambiguous, and their individually "different" tokens in both speeded and unspeeded conditions. Subsequent identifications of the imitated vowels by phonetically trained judges suggested that subjects' productions in both conditions generally agree with their perceptions. Disagreements were more frequent in the unspeeded task or related to neutralization in the speeded task. Relationships between formant patterns of the stimuli, imitations, and individual vowel spaces will be presented. Implications of the results related to the link between perception and production will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH.] 3pSP22. A report on the vowels of traditional speakers of Western Navajo and the implications for a theory of vowel dispersion. Joyce McDonough (Dept. of Linguist., Ohio State Univ., 1712 Neill Ave., Columbus, OH 43210) Navajo has a marked vowel space, four long and short vowel pairs with a gap in the high back area. A consistent (monodialectic), conservative (near monolingual) group of Navajo speakers were recorded in thefield.Vowel formants were measured and plotted on a bark scale, statistics were performed on vowel pairs and groups. Dispersion and quantal theories predict specific tendencies which do not occur. The results showed a very marked triangular vowel space: two front vowel pairs are compacted into a small area, a high back gap is maintained. Three issues are examined: vowel quality enhancement of the long-short contrasts, distribution of vowels in the tight high front space, and the dispersion of the mid back vowels and their relation to mid front vowels. A quality enhancement is consistently reported in the literature for the high front vowel alone. While statistically reliable differences were found in the vowel pairs along the F\ axis, only the high front vowel showed differences along F1 and F2' axis. These results imply different, possibly acoustic, targets for the long and short high front vowels while the differences in other pairs is due to undershoot. [Work supported by NIH and American Philosophical Society.]
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, 8 JUNE 1994 KRESGE MAIN AUDITORIUM (PRECIS PRESENTATIONS) AND REHEARSAL ROOM B (POSTER PRESENTATIONS), 12:45 TO 3:45 P.M. Session 3pUW Underwater Acoustics: Shallow Water (Precis Poster Session) James A. Doutt, Chair Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 Chair's Introduction—12:45
Contributed Papers Precis presentations will be held in the Kresge Main Auditorium from 12:45 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. followed by poster displays in Kresge Rehearsal Room B. Posters will be on display and all authors will be at their posters from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
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J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 95, No. 5, Pt. 2, May 1994
127th Meeting: Acoustical Society of America
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