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Lower pharyngeal wall coarticulation in VCV syllables
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|August 1, 1993
Summary
Pharyngeal wall movements during speech show coarticulation, where surrounding sounds influence movements. Vowel identity significantly impacts movement amplitude and duration in speech transitions.
Area of Science:
- Speech Science
- Acoustic Phonetics
- Biomechanics of Speech
Background:
- Understanding speech articulation requires examining movements of various vocal tract structures.
- Pharyngeal wall movements play a role in speech production, but their coarticulatory patterns are less understood than those of the tongue.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the coarticulation patterns of lower pharyngeal wall movements during speech production.
- To determine how adjacent speech sounds influence pharyngeal wall kinematics.
Main Methods:
- Pulsed-echo ultrasound was used to record lower pharyngeal wall movements in two subjects.
- Nonsense utterances (VCV sequences) were employed to elicit and analyze coarticulatory effects.
Main Results:
- Anticipatory and carryover coarticulation of the pharyngeal wall were observed.
- The final vowel (/u/ vs. /a/) influenced the amplitude and duration of the preceding vowel-consonant transition.
- The initial vowel (/u/ vs. /a/) affected the amplitude of the consonant-vowel transition.
Conclusions:
- Lower pharyngeal wall movements exhibit coarticulatory patterns similar to the tongue dorsum and upper pharynx.
- Vowel context significantly modulates pharyngeal wall kinematics, indicating its integration into speech motor control.
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