Kenneth L. Moll

Investigation of the timing of velar movements during speech.

High‐speed cinefluorographic films were taken of four normal subjects speaking English sentences containing various combinations of nasal consonants (N), consonants (C), and vowels (V) at normal speaking levels and rates of production. Word and syllable boundaries were designed to fall across the sequences in various ways. From frame‐by‐frame tracings, measures of velar movement and velopharyngeal opening were made. Results indicate extensive anticipatory coarticulation of velar movement toward velopharyngeal opening in CVN and CVVN sequences such that velar movement toward opening began during the approach to the initial vowel in all cases and some velopharyngeal opening was observed on all vowels. For NC and NCN sequences, velar movement toward closure for the consonant usually began during the preceding nasal such that some velar closure was observed during all plosive and fricative consonants used. These results directly contradict the hypothesis that a CV‐type syllable is the minimal unit of coarticu...

Cinefluorographic Study of Selected Allophones of English /I/

The purpose of this cinefluorographic study of a number of allophonic variations of English /l/ was to describe the articulatory characteristics of these variations and to assess factors which may be

What can nonspeech tasks tell us about speech motor disabilities

Abstract This paper considers the possible role of nonspeech tasks in theassessment of individuals with motor speech disorders. The difficulties in the definition and isolation of both speech and nonspeech tasks are discussed. A primary point is that an inability to control the movements of the speech structures may be separate from an inability or ability to use the processes that code meaning in the construction of linguistic messages. It may be possible to design nonspeech tasks that provide insight into an individuals ability or inability to control speech movements, but are separate from his or her ability to use language.

Effects of selected vocal disguises upon spectrographic speaker identification

This research was designed to investigate the effects of selected vocal disguises upon spectrographic speaker identification. The experiment consisted of open‐trial, spectrogram‐matching tasks with 15 ’’reference’’ and 15 ’’matching’’ speakers. The speakers produced two sentence sets in six different ways: (1) normal‐speaking mode, (2) old‐age disguise, (3) hoarse disguise, (4) hypernasal disguise, (5) slow‐rate disguise, and (6) free disguise of his own choosing. The reference spectrograms were always undisguised speech samples; the matching spectrograms were either disguised or undisguised. Four trained spectrographic examiners completed the matching tasks. The results revealed that the examiners were able to match speakers with a moderate degree of accuracy (56.67%) when there was no attempt to vocally disguise either utterance. The inclusion of disguised speech samples in the matching tasks significantly interfered with speaker‐identification performance. However, certain voice disguises were more eff...

Effects of altering vowel feedback on speech movements

Delayed auditory feedback, masking and movement tracking techniques have been used to investigate the role of auditory feedback in speech production. The results of these experiments are not conclusive and questions still remain as to whether auditory feedback plays a role, when it plays a role and how it plays a role in speech production. In the present study it was hypothesized that if acoustic information concerning the articulatory positions relevant to vowel production is used in speech production, then altering vowel information would disrupt the movements to subsequent sounds in a C1V1C2V2 utterance. High‐speed cineradiography (150 fps) was used to monitor movements of the jaw, lips, and tongue. During their production of C1V1C2V2 utterances subjects received (1) normal auditory feedback; (2) feedback in which V1 was altered to another vowel; (3) high‐level masking noise. Displacements, velocities, and accelerations were calculated for articulatory movements to V1, C2, and V2 in each condition. The...

Vocal‐Tract Characteristics of Voiced and Voiceless Stop Consonants

The purpose of this study was to investigate supraglottal differences between voiced and voiceless stop consonants. Cinefluorographic films and throat‐microphone recordings were obtained from three speakers for 18 pairs of utterances in which one member differed from the other only in a stop cognate; i.e., /p,t,k/:/b,d,g/. The utterances were of the forms VCV, VCNV, and VNCV, where V is the vowel /i/ or /ɑ/, C, the stop, and N, the nasal consonant that is nonhomorganic with the stop. Analysis of the data revealed that the stop cognates are similar in the gesture of the primary articulator but dissimilar in respect to supraglottal volume and velopharyngeal coarticulation. The results suggest that two components of volume increase may sustain transglottal flow, hence voicing, during a stop. The effects of the two vowel contexts on certain consonant characteristics, such as rate of articulator movement, also are described. [This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Neurolo...