The influence of the palate shape on articulatory token-to-token variability

Articulatory token-to-token variability not only depends on linguistic aspects like the phoneme inventory of a given language but also on speaker specific morphological and motor constraints. As has been noted previously (Perkell (1997), Mooshammer et al. (2004)) , speakers with coronally high "domeshaped" palates exhibit more articulatory variability than speakers with coronally low "flat" palates. One explanation for that is based on perception oriented control by the speaker. The influence of articulatory variation on the cross sectional area and consequently on the acoustics should be greater for flat palates than for domeshaped ones. This should force speakers with flat palates to place their tongue very precisely whereas speakers with domeshaped palates might tolerate a greater variability. A second explanation could be a greater amount of lateral linguo-palatal contact for flat palates holding the tongue in position. In this study both hypotheses were tested

A non-invasive device to measure mechanical interaction between tongue, palate and teeth during speech production

This paper describes an original experimental procedure to measure the mechanical interaction between the tongue and teeth and palate during speech production. It consists in using edentulous people as subjects and to insert pressure sensors in the structure of their complete dental prosthesis. Hence, there is no perturbation of the vocal tract cavity due to the sensors themselves. Several duplicates are used with transducers situated at different locations of the complete denture according to palatography's results, in order to carefully analyze the production of specific sounds such as stop consonants.. It is also possible to measure the contact pressure at different locations on the palate for the same sound

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

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

Articulatory and Acoustic Characteristics of German Fricative Clusters

Background: We investigate the articulatory-acoustic relationship in German fricative sequences. We pursue the possibility that /f/#sibilant and /s#integral/ sequences are in principle subject to articulatory overlap in a similar fashion, yet due to independent articulators being involved, there is a significant difference in the acoustic consequences. We also investigate the role of vowel context and stress. Methods: We recorded electropalatographic and acoustic data from 9 native speakers of German. Results: Results are compatible with the hypothesis that the temporal organization of fricative clusters is globally independent of cluster type with differences between clusters appearing mainly in degree. Articulatory overlap may be obscured acoustically by a labiodental constriction, similarly to what has been reported for stops. Conclusion: Our data suggest that similar principles of articulatory coordination underlie German fricative clusters independently of their segmental composition. The general auditory-acoustic patterning of the fricative sequences can be predicted by taking into account that aerodynamic-acoustic consequences of gestural overlap may vary as a function of the articulators involved. We discuss possible sources for differences in degrees of overlap and place our results in the context of previously reported asymmetries among the fricatives in regressive place assimilation. (C) 2016 S. Karger AG, Base

On the relationship between palate shape and articulatory behavior

International audienceIn this study the acoustic and articulatory variability of speakers with different palate shapes were compared. Since the cross-sectional area of the vocal tract changes less for a slight change in tongue position if the palate is domeshaped than if it is flat, the acoustic variability should be greater for flat palates than for domeshaped ones. Consequently, it can be hypothesized that speakers with flat palates should reduce their articulatory variability in order to keep the acoustic output constant. This hypothesis was tested on 32 speakers recorded via EPG and acoustics. The articulatory and acoustic variability of some of their vowels and /j/ was measured. Indeed, the results show that the speakers with flat palates reduce their variability in tongue height. There is no such trend in acoustic variability

Effects of two teaching methods of connected speech in a Polish EFL classroom

The results demonstrate that in general, NF proved more effective than NNF. With regard to individual processes of connected speech, NF was more effective in production, whereas no such effect was found for perception

A multisensor data acquisition and processing system for speech production investigation

International audienceThe articulatory phonology study requires the simultaneous recording of the speech wave and as many articulatory parameters as possible. To this end, for many years,we have developed the integrated PHONART workstation for speech production analysis with the technologies available at the time. It consisted of a PC-compatible computer-driven workstation designed to record and process acoustic speech signals in relation to the corresponding physiological signals. These signals are obtained from various sources (flow-rate transducers, pressure transducers, position and movement gauges, electrodes, microphones, laryngophones, etc.).The parameters recorded with the PHONART system can be edited and processed with a new version of the PHONEDIT software. It is a signal editor that permits to edit, labelize and analyze various types of physiological signals in relation with the speech signal

Electropalatographic Study of Speech Sound Errors in Adults with Acquired Aphasia

Traditionally speech errors in adults with acquired aphasia have been described as either apraxic errors, characteristic of anterior lesions in the cerebral cortex affecting areas such as Broca's area, or phonemic paraphasic errors due to posterior lesions in areas such as Wernicke’s area. However, studies have reported overlap in the descriptions of apraxic and phonemic paraphasic errors despite the assumption that these errors arise from different levels in the speech planning and execution process. For example, phonemic substitutions are associated with both types of error. Part of the problem is due to difficulties in identifying the precise nature and source of the errors which cannot be resolved by auditory perceptual judgements alone. This study investigates, by means of elcctropalatography (EPG), the location and timing of contact patterns produced by ten adults with acquired aphasia. The subjects were variously diagnosed by traditional classification as Broca’s aphasic with or without apraxia, conduction and anomic. These subjects variously demonstrated atypical patterns when compared to ten control speakers such as: increased temporal and/or spatial variability; specific difficulties in the sequencing and timing of two adjacent lingual consonants; and the presence of intrusive lingual/palatal contact patterns. These errors were usually undetected through auditory analysis. The atypical patterns were not associated uniquely with a particular aphasic syndrome but were subject specific and often related to the site of the lesion within the brain, for example, the basal ganglia. Both subjects diagnosed with apraxia of speech and those with phonemic paraphasia produced the EPG patterns noted above. The EPG data provided insights into the nature and origins of errors such as substitutions which were unavailable from auditory-based analysis. Many of these error patterns could be accounted for by modification to Dell’s model of spreading activation (Dell, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990). The results have important implications for therapeutic intervention since accurate diagnosis is crucial for effective intervention