Contains reports on four research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 RO1 NS04332-15)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 T32 NS07040-03)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 RO1 NS13028-02)National Science Foundation (Grant BNS76-80278

Bernstein, Jared C.

Blumstein, Sheila E.

Bush, Marcia A.

Cooper, William E.

Delgutte, Bertrand

Goldstein, Ursula G.

Golub, Howard L.

Henke, William L.

Kahn, Margaret

Klatt, Dennis H.

Laferriere, Martha

Menn, Lisa

Painter, Colin

Perkell, Joseph S.

Sorensen, John M.

Stevens, Kenneth N.

Zue, Victor W.

DSpace@MIT

XXII. SPEECH COMMUNICATIONAcademic and Research StaffProf. Kenneth N. StevensProf. Morris HalleDr. Jared BernsteinDr. Sheila E. Blumstein*Dr. Margaret BullowaDr. William E. CooperDr. Frangois GrosjeantDr. William L. HenkeDr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr.Marcia A. BushBertrand DelgutteWilliam F. Ganong IIIA. W. F. HugginslMargaret KahnDennis H. KlattMartha Laferriere**John MakhoultLise MennPaula MenyukttJoanne Miller-Colin PaintertlGraduate StudentsUrsula G. GoldsteinHoward L. GolubDr. Joseph S. PerkellDr. Ernest A. Scatton***Dr. Stefanie Shattuck-HufnageltttDr. Katherine Lee WilliamsDr. Catherine D. WolfDr. Victor W. ZueBarbara J. MoslinJohn M. SorensenStephen K. HolfordGeorge P-N. HuiPeter V. LaMaster1. STUDIES OF SPEECH PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTIONNational Institutes of Health (Grants 5 RO1 NS04332-15 and 5 T32 NS07040-03)Sheila E.Dennis H.Victor W.Blumstein, Marcia A. Bush, Bertrand Delgutte, William L. Henke,Klatt, Colin Painter, Joseph S. Perkell, Kenneth N. Stevens,Zuea. Segmental Aspects of SpeechOne of our research objectives continues to be to develop a theoretical basis forthe phonetic categories or features that appear to be universal in language and to beginto delineate in detail the inventory of these phonetic features and their articulatory andperceptual correlates. During the past year, we have been concerned particularly withthe features that describe place of articulation for consonants and vowels, and the fea-tures that specify tonal contrasts for vowels. Our recent work with the consonantshas been acoustic analyses of a number of stop and nasal consonants in syllable-initialand syllable-final positions. Our data have provided support for earlier observationsAssociate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Brown University.TAssistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University.Staff Member, Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Southeastern Massachusetts University.ttProfessor of Special Education, Boston University."Associate Professor of Communicative Disorders, Emerson College.Assistant Professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, State Univer-sity of New York at Albany.tAssistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Cornell University.PR No. 120 113(XXII. SPEECH COMMUNICATION)that short-time spectra sampled at consonantal release have invariant properties thatdistinguish fairly reliably between labial, alveolar, and velar places of articulationindependent of vowel context or voicing and nasality characteristics of the consonant.These findings suggest that the auditory system is somehow predisposed to classifyauditory inputs in terms of these acoustic properties. These observations have indica-ted that further research is needed to describe how auditory signals with these charac-teristics are processed in peripheral stages of the auditory system, and work alongthese lines is in progress, using the techniques of both psychophysics and electrophys-iology.We have been exploring various ways of describing articulatory configurations forvowels, the objective being to determine whether there are procedures for specifyingarticulatory states for vowels that are related in some simple, quantal fashion to thevowel features. In particular, we have been attempting, through palatography and radi-ography, to determine whether patterns of contact on the tongue or on the palate for theproduction of different vowels might provide an invariant articulatory specification ofthe features high, low, and back.Research on the laryngeal features has in the past year been directed toward estab-lishing a perceptual basis for the fundamental-frequency (F o ) contour shapes that areobserved in tone languages. Through acoustic analyses of contour shapes that are usedin different languages, and through experiments that examine listener responses to con-tour shapes that are varied systematically in synthetic syllables, we are attempting todetermine how the predispositions of the auditory system constrain the F contours thatare used in language.b. Physiology of Speech ProductionProgress has been made toward establishing a capability to perform experimentsin which cineradiographic and electromyographic data on speech production are obtainedsimultaneously. Data from these experiments will be used in conjunction with a modelof the tongue for the exploration of the properties of the tongue musculature as theyinfluence articulatory configurations and movements. Preliminary EMG records havebeen obtained, and methods of reducing radiographic dosage have been explored. Ourcomputer facility is being updated to provide an interactive multichannel (physiological)data processing capability.An experiment has been performed in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Gay (of theUniversity of Connecticut Health Sciences Center and Haskins Laboratories) on theshort-latency feedback effects of unexpected reductions in intraoral air pressure duringthe production of bilabial stops. In apparent conflict with a previous result, no short-latency changes in the timing of laryngeal EMG signals were found. We plan to repeatthis experiment in our own laboratory.PR No. 120 114(XXII. SPEECH COMMUNICATION)c. Word-, Phrase-, and Sentence-Level PhenomenaThe speech signal contains acoustical manifestations not only of segments and fea-tures but also of larger syntactic units. A complete theory of the speech production andperception process must account for these acoustical influences that are the result ofconcatenation of segments into words, phrases, and sentences. Our work in this areahas included studies of speech timing in sentences, characterization of fundamental-frequency contours in sentences, and the study of certain phonological phenomena thatoccur when syllables and words are concatenated. This research is leading to the imple-mentation of a model of sentence production that includes a phonological conmponent (pro-viding a transformation from an abstract representation in terms of segments andfeatures, syntactic marking, and semantic information, to a detailed phonetic and pro-sodic representation) and a phonetic-to-acoustic transformation. Plans for improvingthe model include systematic evaluations of the intelligibility and naturalness of theoutput, and modification of the rules in areas where these evaluations show deficien-cies.2. SYNTACTIC-TO-PHONETIC CODING IN SPEECH PRODUCTIONNational Institutes of Health (Grant 5 RO1 NS13028-02)William E. Cooper, John M. SorensenA model of speech production has been designed to describe the translation from aspeaker' s syntactic representation to a phonetic output. The model is designed toaccount for such phenomena as (a) clause- and phrase-final lengthening, (b) optionalpausing at the beginning and end of main clauses, (c) blocking of cross-word phoneticconditioning at the boundaries of major constituents, and (d) fall-rise contours of fun-damental frequency at major constituent boundaries. Formal linguistic studies havebeen conducted to develop rules for syntactically determined pausing, and experimentalstudies have been conducted on each of the four phenomena mentioned above. Takentogether, the experimental studies provide substantial support for the notion that aspeaker' s syntactic code exerts a systematic and direct influence on the phonetic prop-erties of duration and fundamental frequency. In addition, the results of such workhave permitted new inferences about the precise form of the speaker' s syntactic repre-sentation. By using a controlled experimental technique which is applicable to directhypothesis-testing, we have been able to obtain more information about the speaker' ssyntactic code than has previously been possible on the basis of other data.PR No. 120 115(XXII. SPEECH COMMUNICATION)3. STUDIES OF SPEECH PRODUCTION AND SPEECH DISCRIMINATIONBY CHILDREN AND BY THE HEARING-IMPAIREDNational Institutes of Health (Grant 5 T32 NS07040-03)National Science Foundation (Grant BNS76-80278)Jared Bernstein, Marcia A. Bush, Ursula G. Goldstein, Howard L. Golub,William L. Henke, Margaret Kahn, Lise Menna. Speech and Sound Production by Infants and ChildrenA review of the literature has led to descriptions of the anatomical growth of thevarious parts of the vocal tract of children. Based on these data, a static vocal-tractmodel representing various levels of anatomical development is being implemented. Thismodel will be used to explore the phonetic capabilities of children and the relationshipbetween children' s articulatory configurations for different vowels and the configurationsused by adults.In another project, we are applying modern signal-processing techniques to an anal-ysis of infant cries, with a view toward developing improved methods of classifying theattributes of cries and individual differences in these attributes. We have obtainedrecordings of cries from a number of newborns, and we are collecting data on the tem-poral characteristics, formant frequencies, and fundamental-frequency contours forthese vocalizations.In another study, we have been gathering and analyzing speech from recordings ofa number of two-to-five year olds in conversation with their parents in a structured lab-oratory setting. These data are being used to uncover certain principles governing theuse of pitch contours in parent-child discourse, particularly the semantically-determinedconditions under which the pitch range remains similar or undergoes significant changesfrom one clause to the next.b. Speech Production by the DeafThis research is concerned with identifying differences between the speech of thedeaf and normal speech while attempting to isolate the causes of these differences.Speech timing and segmental patterns of a small number of deaf children have beendescribed in detail, and one child' s speech has been modeled and manipulated so that therelative contributions of different speech errors to intelligibility can be measured. Ananalysis of syllable and word concatenation among a larger population of deaf childrenduring reading and spontaneous speech is being started. Another ongoing project involvestranscription and acoustic analysis of segmental and suprasegmental aspects of thespeech of adventitiously deaf adults. The data from this group of adults seems to indi-cate that, following the onset of post-lingual profound deafness, those aspects of speechPR No. 120 116(XXII. SPEECH COMMUNICATION)which can be monitored by rich afferent information may be less likely to deteriorate.Finally, a refined computer program has been developed for marking fundamental pitchperiods. We hope that this program will be useful in the analysis of pathological pho-nation qualities in both children and adults.4. ACOUSTIC STUDIES OF SPEECH SOUNDS: INVARIANT ATTRIBUTES,CONTEXT EFFECTS, AND SPEAKER DIFFERENCESWilliam L. Henke, Martha Laferriere, Kenneth N. Stevens, Victor W. Zuea. Study of the Phonological Processes in EnglishThe goal of this work is to provide, through acoustic studies, quantitative informa-tion on the variations of the properties of speech sounds in context. Whenever the varia-tions appear to be systematic, either for all speakers or a subset of the speakers, rulesare proposed to describe such phonological variations. Over the past year we have com-pleted a study of the acoustic characteristics of medial [t, d], and we have initiated astudy of the acoustic effect of vowel nasalization. In the forthcoming year, we expectto move on to other phonological processes, such as palatalization, vowel reduction, andschwa deletion.b. Statistics of Fundamental-Frequency (Fo) Contours in SentencesWe have been collecting long-term statistical data on Fo contours produced by a num-ber of speakers during reading and during spontaneous speech. Three kinds of analysisof the contours are under way, representing successively more sophisticated attemptsto uncover the underlying differences in the control of F by different speakers: (i) long-term distribution of fundamental periods; (ii) statistical properties describing an"average" breath group (a breath group being a segment of an utterance produced with-out pauses, and separated from adjacent segments by pauses); and (iii) statistical prop-erties of each of several classes of breath groups.PR No. 120 117

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