Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton April 1, 2015

Gestural Control in the English Past-Tense Suffix: An Articulatory Study Using Real-Time MRI

  • Adam Lammert , Louis Goldstein , Vikram Ramanarayanan and Shrikanth Narayanan
From the journal Phonetica

Abstract

The English past tense allomorph following a coronal stop (e.g., /bɑndəd/) includes a vocoid that has traditionally been transcribed as a schwa or as a barred i. Previous evidence has suggested that this entity does not involve a specific articulatory gesture of any kind. Rather, its presence may simply result from temporal coordination of the two temporally adjacent coronal gestures, while the interval between those two gestures remains voiced and is acoustically reminiscent of a schwa. The acoustic and articulatory characteristics of this vocoid are reexamined in this work using real-time MRI with synchronized audio which affords complete midsagittal views of the vocal tract. A novel statistical analysis is developed to address the issue of articulatory targetlessness based on previous models that predict articulatory action from segmental context. Results reinforce the idea that this vocoid is different, both acoustically and articulatorily, than lexical schwa, but its targetless nature is not supported. Data suggest that an articulatory target does exist, especially in the pharynx where it is revealed by the new data acquisition methodology. Moreover, substantial articulatory differences are observed between subjects, which highlights both the difficulty in characterizing this entity previously, and the need for further study with additional subjects.


verified



*Adam Lammert, 3740 McClintock Avenue, EBB 400, Los Angeles, CA 90089 (USA), E-Mail lammert@usc.edu

References

1 Anderson S (19 82): The analysis of French schwa. Language 58:535-573.10.2307/413848Search in Google Scholar

2 Bakovic E (2005): Antigemination, assimilation and the determination of identity. Phonology 22:279-315.10.1017/S0952675705000631Search in Google Scholar

3 Bennett CM, Baird AA, Miller MB, Wolford GL (2010): Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic salmon: an argument for proper multiple comparisons correction. J Serendipitous Unexpected Results 1:1-5.10.1016/S1053-8119(09)71202-9Search in Google Scholar

4 Boersma P (2001): Praat, a system for doing phonetics by computer. Glot Int 5:341-345.Search in Google Scholar

5 Bresch E, Katsamanis A, Narayanan S (2010): Coupled HMM; in Proc Interspeech.Search in Google Scholar

6 Bresch E, Narayanan S (2009): Region segmentation in the frequency domain applied to upper airway real-time magnetic resonance images. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 28:323.10.1109/TMI.2008.928920Search in Google Scholar PubMed

7 Bresch E, Nielsen J, Nayak K, Narayanan S (2006): Synchronized and noise-robust audio recordings during realtime MRI scans. J Acoust Soc Am 120:1791-1794.10.1121/1.2335423Search in Google Scholar PubMed

8 Browman C, Goldstein L (1992): Targetless schwa: an articulatory analysis; in Docherty A, Ladd A (eds): Papers in Laboratory Phonology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, vol II: Gesture, Segment, Prosody, pp 26-56.Search in Google Scholar

9 Browman C, Goldstein L (2000): Competing constraints on intergestural coordination and self-organization of phonological structures. Bull Commun Parlé 5:25-34.Search in Google Scholar

10 Davidson L (2006): Phonotactics and articulatory coordination interact in phonology: evidence from nonnative production. Cogn Sci 30:837-862.10.1207/s15516709cog0000_73Search in Google Scholar PubMed

11 Devijver PA, Kittler J (1982): Pattern Recognition: A Statistical Approach. London, Prentice Hall.10.1080/01431168408948821Search in Google Scholar

12 Fant G (1950a): Transmission properties of the vocal tract. Part I. MIT Q Prog Rep, pp 20-23.Search in Google Scholar

13 Fant G (1950b): Transmission properties of the vocal tract. Part II. MIT Q Prog Rep, pp 14-19.Search in Google Scholar

14 Feise RJ (2002): Do multiple outcome measures require p-value adjustment? BMC Med Res Methodol 2:8.Flemming E (2007): The phonetics of schwa vowels; in Minkova D (ed): Phonological Weakness in English. Palgrave.10.1186/1471-2288-2-8Search in Google Scholar PubMed

15 Flemming E, Johnson S (2007): Rosa's roses: reduced vowels in American English. J Int Phonet Assoc 37:83-96.10.1017/S0025100306002817Search in Google Scholar

16 Forsyth D, Ponce J (2002): Computer Vision: A Modern Approach. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.10.1017/S0025100306002817Search in Google Scholar

17 Fromkin V (ed) (2000): Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Oxford, Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

18 Gafos A (2002): A grammar of gestural coordination. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 20:269.10.1023/A:1014942312445Search in Google Scholar

19 Geisser S (1993): Predictive Inference. New York, Chapman & Hall.10.1023/A:1014942312445Search in Google Scholar

20 Goldstein L (2011): Back to the past tense in English; in Representing Language: Essays in Honor of Judith Aissen. Santa Cruz, Linguistics Research Center, University of California Santa Cruz.Search in Google Scholar

21 Goldstein L, Byrd D, Saltzman E (2006): The role of vocal tract gestural action units in understanding the evolution of phonology; in Arbib M (ed): Action to Language via the Mirror Neuron System. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511541599.008Search in Google Scholar

22 Kiparsky P (1985): Some consequences of lexical phonology. Phonol Yearb 2:85-138.10.1017/CBO9780511541599.008Search in Google Scholar

23 Kitamura T, Takemoto H, Honda K, Shimada Y, Fujimoto I, Syakudo Y, Masaki S, Kuroda K, Oku-uchi N, Senda M (2005): Difference in vocal tract shape between upright and supine postures: observations by an open-type MRI scanner. Acoust Sci Technol 26.10.1017/S0952675700000397Search in Google Scholar

24 Lammert A, Proctor M, Narayanan S (2010): Data-driven analysis of realtime vocal tract mri using correlated image regions; in Proc Interspeech.10.1250/ast.26.465Search in Google Scholar

25 Magen H (1989): An Acoustic Study of Vowel-to-Vowel Coarticulation in English; PhD thesis Yale University.Search in Google Scholar

26 Nam H (2007): Articulatory modeling of consonant release gesture; in 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.Search in Google Scholar

27 Narayanan S, Nayak K, Lee S, Sethy A, Byrd D (2004): An approach to real-time magnetic resonance imaging for speech production. J Acoust Soc Am 115:1771-1776.10.1121/1.1652588Search in Google Scholar

28 Perneger TV (1998): What's wrong with Bonferroni adjustments. BMJ 316:1236-1238.10.1121/1.1652588Search in Google Scholar PubMed

29 Pinker S, Prince A (1988): On language and connectionism: analysis of a parallel distributed processing model of language acquisition; in Pinker S, Mehler J (eds): Connections and Symbols. Cambridge, MIT Press, pp 73-193.10.1136/bmj.316.7139.1236Search in Google Scholar PubMed

30 Pouradmadi M (2007): Construction of skew-normal random variables: are they linear combinations of normal and half-normal? J Stat Theory Application 3:314-328.10.1016/0010-0277(88)90032-7Search in Google Scholar PubMed

31 Ramanarayanan V, Goldstein L, Byrd D, Narayanan S (2013): An investigation of articulatory setting using realtime magnetic resonance imaging. J Acoust Soc Am 134:510-519.10.1121/1.4807639Search in Google Scholar

32 Rothman KJ (1990): No adjustments are needed for multiple comparisons. Epidemiology 1:43-46.10.1121/1.4807639Search in Google Scholar PubMed

33 Smorodinsky I (2002): Schwas with and without Active Gestural Control; PhD thesis Yale University.10.1097/00001648-199001000-00010Search in Google Scholar PubMed

34 Stone M, Stock G, Bunin K, Kumar K, Epstein M, Kambhamettu C, Li M, Parthasarathy V, Prince J (2007): Comparison of speech production in upright and supine position. J Acoust Soc Am 122:532-541.10.1121/1.4744666Search in Google Scholar

35 Tiede M, Masaki S, Vatikiotis-Bateson E (2000): Contrasts in speech articulation observed in sitting and supine conditions; in Proc International Seminar on Speech Production, Bavaria, pp 25-28.10.1121/1.2715659Search in Google Scholar PubMed

36 Trager A, Smith A (1951): An Outline of English Structure. Studies in Linguistics Occasional Papers (No. 3). Norman, Battenberg Press.Search in Google Scholar

37 Wrench A, Cleland J, Scobbie J (2011): An ultrasound protocol for comparing tongue contours: upright vs. supine; in Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong, pp 2161-2164.Search in Google Scholar

38 Zsiga E (2003): Articulatory timing in a second language. Stud Second Lang Acquisition 25:399-432.10.1017/S0272263103000160Search in Google Scholar

39 Zsiga E (2003): Articulatory timing in a second language. Stud Second Lang Acquisition 25:399-432.10.1017/S0272263103000160Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2014-07-08
Accepted: 2014-12-31
Published Online: 2015-04-01
Published in Print: 2015-07-01

© 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

Downloaded on 29.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1159/000371820/html
Scroll to top button