Vowel formant dispersion as a measure of articulation proficiency

The articulatory range of a speaker has previously been estimated by the shape formed by first and second formant measurements of produced vowels. In a majority of the currently available metrics, formant frequency measurements are reduced to a single estimate for a condition, which has adverse consequences for subsequent statistical testing. Other metrics provide estimates of size of vowel articulation changes only, and do not provide a method for studying the direction of the change. This paper proposes an alternative approach. Vowel formant frequencies are redefined as vectors originating from a defined center point of the vowel space fixed to a basic three-vowel frame. The Euclidean length of the vectors, the vowel formant dispersion (VFD), can be compared across conditions for evidence of articulatory expansions or reductions across conditions or speaker groups. Further, the angle component of the vowel vectors allows for analyses of direction of the reduction or expansion. Based on the range of investigations afforded by the VFD metric, and simulation experiments that compare its statistical properties with those of other proposed metrics, it is argued that the VFD procedure offers an enhanced view of vowel articulation change over rival metrics.