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How much is a word? Predicting ease of articulation planning from apraxic speech error patterns
Wolfram Ziegler1, Ingrid Aichert1
1EKN - Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, Clinic for Neuropsychology, City Hospital, Munich, Germany.
Summary
A new model predicts word articulation difficulty in apraxia of speech by analyzing speech motor planning demands. This model offers a unified account of factors influencing articulation accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Speech Science
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Ease of articulation is intuitively linked to word length and consonant clusters.
- Speech motor control studies use these factors to assess the speech motor system.
- Apraxia of speech evidence highlights factors in disordered speech planning, but a unified account is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a nonlinear regression model for predicting accurate word production in apraxia of speech.
- To quantify the motor planning demands of word articulation.
Main Methods:
- A tree-structure model incorporating vocal tract gestures and prosodic domains was used.
- The model was trained on accuracy data from 136 words produced by apraxic speakers.
- Model coefficients predicted accuracy for a separate test set of 96 words.
Main Results:
- The model accurately predicted articulation accuracy in both training (R(2)adj = .71) and testing (R(2)adj = .67) datasets.
- Model coefficients aligned with phonetic theories and clinical observations.
- Word stress significantly influenced articulation errors, consistent with phonetic and psycholinguistic research.
Conclusions:
- The developed model offers a unified and transparent explanation of word articulation motor planning requirements.
- This provides a framework for understanding speech production challenges in apraxia of speech.
