Articulatory Variability is Reduced by Repetition and Predictability.

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Speech Science
• Motor Control

Background:

• Motor skill acquisition involves repetition, leading to faster, smoother movements with less variation.
• Speech articulation benefits from practice, improving trajectory speed and smoothness.
• The impact of practice on articulatory variability remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how repetition and predictability affect the articulation of the frequent German word "sie" [zi].
• To quantify the influence of practice on articulatory variability in speech.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of articulatory movements during repeated utterances of "sie" [zi].
• Measurement of kinematic behavior, speaking rate, and conditional probability of the word.
• Focus on variability changes, particularly during the vocalic target [i].

Main Results:

• Articulatory variability correlates with speaking rate and the duration of "sie" [zi].
• Overall articulatory variability decreases with increased repetition of "sie" [zi].
• Higher predictability (conditional probability) of "sie" [zi] also reduces variability, most notably in the [i] vowel production.

Conclusions:

• Practice demonstrably reduces articulatory variability in speech.
• Even highly frequent speech gestures benefit from repetition and predictability.
• Findings suggest motor learning principles apply to speech articulation, impacting variability reduction.