Production and perception of English Word Final Stops By Malay Speakers

A few influential speech studies have been carried out using established speech learning models, which confirmed that the analysis of first language (L1) and second language (L2) at a phonemic level provides only a partial view of deeper relationships between languages in contact. Therefore, studies focusing on cross-language phonetic differences as a causative factor in L2 learner difficulties have been proposed to understand second language learners’ (L2) speech production and how listeners respond perceptually to the phonetic properties of L2. This paper presents a study of the production and perception of the final stops by English learners (L2) whose first language is Malay (L1). A total of 23 students, comprising 16 male and 7 female Malay subjects (L1 as Malay and their L2 as English) with normal hearing and speech development participated in this study. A short interview was conducted in order to gain background information about information about each subject, to introduce them to the study, to inform them about the process of recording, the materials to be used in the recording session, and how the materials should be managed during recording time. Acoustic measurements of selected segments occurring in word final positions (via spectrographic analysis, syllable rhyme duration and phonation) were taken. Results of the voicing contrast realisation in Malay accented English and Malaysian listeners' perceptual identification/discrimination abilities with final voiced/voiceless stops in Malay and English are presented and discussed. The findings revealed that the Malay students’ realisation of final stops in L2 is largely identical to their L1. In addition, the results also showed that accurate ‘perception’ may not always lead to accurate ‘production’

Production, Perception, and Distribution of Breathy Sonorants in Marathi

Breathy sonorants are crosslinguistically rare, and while a small amount of existing work has focused on their acoustic properties much remains to be learned about their perception and their language-internal distribution. Herein, breathy sonorants in Marathi are investigated via instrumental acoustic analysis, a perception experiment, and corpus analysis. Results reveal that breathy sonorants are under-represented language-internally in addition to being typologically rare. The acoustic differences associated with sonorant phonation contrasts are less robust than those in obstruents. They are also prone to more perception errors than obstruents, and breathy sonorants are more heavily restricted phonotactically than breathy obstruents. These data contribute to a more nuanced understanding of breathy sonorants, and lend potential insight into their typology.

On Non-Optimal Laryngeal Timing: The Case of Trique

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Consonant effects on tonal registers in Jiashan Wu

Breathy phonation is known as the primary cue of the “voiced” stops in Wu dialects, and is associated with the lower tonal register. This study discusses the phonetic realization of the tonal register of Wu dialects by measuring relative prominence of the first harmonic to some higher-frequency components in the spectrum, F0 and periodicity (CPP) of Jiashan Wu monosyllabic words. We find that in Jiashan Wu, the phonetic targets for tonal register contrasts are a steeper spectral-slope and a lower F0, which is consistent cross all consonant manners, while the articulatory realization varies among different types of consonants

Cepstral peak prominence: a comprehensive analysis

An analytical study of cepstral peak prominence (CPP) is presented, intended to provide an insight into its meaning and relation with voice perturbation parameters. To carry out this analysis, a parametric approach is adopted in which voice production is modelled using the traditional source-filter model and the first cepstral peak is assumed to have Gaussian shape. It is concluded that the meaning of CPP is very similar to that of the first rahmonic and some insights are provided on its dependence with fundamental frequency and vocal tract resonances. It is further shown that CPP integrates measures of voice waveform and periodicity perturbations, be them either amplitude, frequency or noise

Hacia una teoría unificada de la producción y la percepción de la voz

At present, two important questions about voice remain unanswered: When voice quality changes, what physiological alteration caused this change, and if a change to the voice production system occurs, what change in perceived quality can be expected? We argue that these questions can only be answered by an integrated model of voice linking production and perception, and we describe steps towards the development of such a model. Preliminary evidence in support of this approach is also presented. We conclude that development of such a model should be a priority for scientists interested in voice, to explain what physical condition(s) might underlie a given voice quality, or what voice quality might result from a specific physical configuration.En la actualidad quedan por contestar dos cuestiones importantes relacionadas con la voz, a saber: (1) cuando la cualidad de la voz cambia, ¿qué alteración en el mecanismo vocal es la responsable?; y (2) si se produce un cambio en el sistema de producción de la voz, ¿qué cambio puede esperarse en la cualidad de voz percibida auditivamente? Sostenemos que la única respuesta posible a estas preguntas reside en un modelo de voz integrado que una producción y percepción, y describimos pasos hacia el desarrollo de tal modelo. Presentamos evidencias preliminares para respaldar esta propuesta. Concluimos que el desarrollo de semejante modelo debería ser una prioridad para los científicos interesados en la voz con el fin de explicar qué condición o condiciones físicas podrían subyacer a una cualidad de voz determinada, o qué cualidad de voz podría derivar de una configuración física específica

Effects of tone on the three-way laryngeal distinction in Korean: An acoustic and aerodynamic comparison of the Seoul and South Kyungsang dialects

This is the publisher's version, made available with the permission of the publisher.The three-way laryngeal distinction among voiceless Korean stops has been well documented for the Seoul dialect. The present study compares the acoustic and aerodynamic properties of this stop series between two dialects, non-tonal Seoul and tonal South Kyungsang Korean. Sixteen male Korean speakers (eight from Seoul and eight from Kyungsang) participated. Measures collected included VOT, f0 at vowel onset, H1-H2, and air pressure and airflow. The presence versus absence of lexical pitch accent affects both the acoustic and aerodynamic properties. First, Seoul speakers use a combination of f0 and VOT to distinguish the three-way contrast of Korean stops, while Kyungsang speakers mainly use VOT. Second, the presence of lexical pitch for Kyungsang speakers makes f0 an unreliable acoustic cue for the three Korean stops. Third, dialectal differences in VOT to mark the three-way distinction support the notion of a diachronic transition whereby VOT differences between the lenis and aspirated stops in Seoul Korean have been decreasing over the past 50 years. Finally, the aerodynamic results make it possible to postulate the articulatory state of the glottis, indicating a positive correlation with acoustic parameters. Based on the acoustic and aerodynamic results, phonological representations of Korean stops for the tonal and non-tonal dialects are suggested