Kevin Roon

Durational correlates for differentiating consonant sequences in Russian

In Russian, the same consonant sequences are permitted in various phonotactic environments. The presence of a word boundary or reduced vowel can be phonologically contrastive, and both learners and experienced listeners may rely on fine acoustic cues to discriminate between phonotactic possibilities. In this study, durational characteristics of consonant sequences are examined to establish whether speakers use duration to distinguish (a) word-initial clusters (#C1C2), (b) consonant-schwa-consonant sequences (#ClaC2), and (c) sequences divided by a word boundary (C1#C2). Both monolingual native Russian speakers and bilingual Russian-English speakers produced several types of target sequences: stop+consonant, fricative+consonant, and nasal+consonant. Results show that C2 is significantly longer in C1#C2 than in other sequences. For #C1C2, when Cl is a stop, there is no significant difference in duration when compared with other sequence types, though C1s of other manners are significantly shorter. Differences in Cl burst duration for stops are consonant-specific, but a longer interconsonantal duration is a reliable cue to schwa presence in #C1eC2. These results are discussed with respect to their implications for gestural coordination, segmentation, and language learning.

Assessment of head reference placement methods for optical head-movement correction of ultrasound imaging in speech production

One method of quantification of tongue movement using ultrasound imaging during speech production requires determination of tongue position relative to the palate, corrected for probe and head motion so that successive frames can be meaningfully compared. This method involves placing infrared emitting diodes (IREDs) on a “tiara” attached to the participant’s head (Whalen et al., 2005). An alternative is to attach IREDs directly to the participant’s skin. In either case, the IREDs can potentially move relative to the participant’s skull. The present study examined movement with both methods for simple utterances, a read paragraph, and spontaneous speech. The amount of IRED movement observed using both methods allowed identification of regions where IREDs should be affixed on a participant’s skin to minimize movement when the direct application method is used. Results of simulations showing the effects of this IRED movement on the calculated head-movement correction of the tongue images are presented. Given...

Use of H1-H2 to quantify formant tuning for notes and portions of the vibrato cycle in the second passaggio of a professional female singer

Singing voice pedagogy emphasizes that an acoustic change occurs in standard, classical, techniqued soprano voice between the musical notes D5♮ (587 Hz) and F5♮ (698 Hz). For low vowels, this involves a transition from tuning of the second resonance to the second harmonic (F2/H2) to tuning of the first resonance to the fundamental (F1/F0). In this single-subject study, we quantified the acoustics of this transition as the amplitude difference between the first and second harmonics (H1-H2). Results showed a clear and substantial change from negative to positive H1-H2 values at a pivot point between E5♭ and E5♮, implying the resonance tuning. Non-techniqued singing, with the same singer, showed no such change. F0 fluctuation (vibrato) of ±90 cent at the pivot point resulted in positive H1-H2 values at vibrato maxima and negative ones at vibrato minima. Additionally, H1-H2 values were consistently higher at vibrato maxima than minima throughout the transition area. Potential explanations for the latter resul...

Perception of Russian palatalization contrasts by English listeners

Russian contrasts palatalized vs. non-palatalized consonants across primary oral articulator, manner, voicing, and word position, in both stressed and unstressed syllables. This palatalization contrast is challenging for native English speakers to master, possibly due to English speakers not being able to discriminate the relevant linguistic contrast in all the environments in which it exists in Russian. Previous studies have shown that English listeners are good at discriminating this Russian contrast pre-vocalically, but there is no experimental evidence indicating how well they discriminate this contrast in the wide variety of environments in which it is used in Russian, and when produced by different talkers. The present study tested how well English listeners could perceive the Russian palatalization contrast across manner, word position, primary oral articulator, and talker. 24 listeners performed an AX discrimination task in which A and X were always produced by two different speakers, one male and...

Ultrasound evidence for place of articulation and assimilation behaviors of the Japanese moraic nasal /N/

The syllable-final Japanese moraic nasal /N/ is commonly transcribed as velar or uvular or even placeless, but very little articulatory has been reported. This study investigated the tongue shape and position for /N/ in various phonological environments using ultrasound. /N/ assimilates to the place of following segments, so a variety of environments was also examined to assess whether the assimilation occurs categorically or gradually. Tens repetitions of 7 target words with a moraic nasal (/aNCa/, /aNa/, /aNaN/, and /ƜN/) and 6 control words without a moraic nasal (/aCa/, /aa/) were spoken by 4 native speakers of Japanese. Although there seems to be an oral target for moraic nasal, the place was different for each of our four speakers. The assimilation also varied among speakers, but a gesture for the moraic nasal remained in at least one phonological environment for all the speakers. Assimilation of Japanese moraic nasal to following segments is not always categorical and a gesture for the target of mo...

Indexing head movement during speech production using optical markers.

Optical marker tracking integrated with electromagnetic articulometry was used to assess the movement extent of various points on (a) forehead skin and (b) points on a head-mounted apparatus, relative to a fixed point just above the upper incisors, and to compare the accuracy of the two different approaches to indexing head position during speech production. Both methods can provide a satisfactory index of head position. If skin-affixed markers are used, a minimum of 4 is recommended. Locations for optimal marker placement are identified.

Acoustic cues for distinguishing consonant sequences in Russian

In Russian, the same consonant sequences are permitted in various environments. Consequently, the presence of a word boundary or reduced vowel can be phonologically contrastive (e.g. [z■d■vatj] ‘‘to assign,’’ [zd■vatj] ‘‘to turn in’’), and both learners and experienced listeners likely rely on fine acoustic cues to discriminate the phonotactic structures they hear. In this study, the acoustic characteristics of consonant sequences are examined to establish which cues may distinguish (a) word‐initial clusters (C1C2); (b) consonant‐schwa‐consonant sequences (C1VC2); and (c) sequences divided by a word boundary (C1♯C2). For all three sequence types, native Russian speakers produced phrases containing three categories of target sequences: stop+consonant, fricative+consonant, and nasal+consonant. Results show no significant differences in C1 burst duration for initial stops, though a longer interconsonantal duration is a reliable cue to schwa presence in C1VC2. C2 is significantly longer in C♯C than in other s...