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A relationship between coarticulation and compensatory shortening
Phonetica
|January 1, 1981
Summary
Timing effects in speech, like coarticulation and compensatory shortening, are related. An experiment confirmed these speech timing phenomena are similar and predictable by a known formula.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics
- Speech Science
- Linguistics
Background:
- Coarticulation describes how speech sounds influence each other.
- Compensatory shortening refers to the shortening of stressed vowels.
- Existing literature suggests these timing effects might be linked.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explicitly compare coarticulation and compensatory shortening.
- To test the hypothesis that these are not separate phenomena.
- To investigate the relationship between speech timing effects.
Main Methods:
- Literature comparison of coarticulatory influences and compensatory shortening.
- Experimental design to directly compare the two timing effects.
- Application of Lindblom and Rapp's compensatory shortening formula.
Main Results:
- Coarticulation and compensatory shortening exhibit highly similar patterns.
- Both timing effects are accurately predicted by the compensatory shortening formula.
- A significant correlation between coarticulation and shortening was observed in 5 out of 6 subjects.
Conclusions:
- Coarticulation and compensatory shortening are not distinct timing phenomena.
- The findings support a unified view of speech timing control.
- Speech timing can be modeled using established phonetic formulas.