Lingual target regions for consonants: constancy and variability across speakers

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The main goal of this project is to investigate articulatory target regions for consonants. The work is driven by the lack of data on consonant articulation and subsequent under-representation of consonants in the contemporary models of speech production, despite the consonants' prevalent status in the world's languages and their importance to speech intelligibility. The specific objectives of the study included: (1) determining whether consonants differ with respect to the location and size of their target regions in the mouth within and across speakers, (2) determining whether and how the features of vocal tract geometry, specifically the shape of the hard palate, affect the target regions, (3) determining whether and how speaking conditions (e.g., speech rate, clarity etc) affect the target region characteristics for consonants, (4) determining the differences in target regions produced in controlled conditions and in meaningful speech, and (5) developing a visual model of tongue target regions. Kinematic and acoustic data will be acquired using a novel electromagnetic motion tracking technology. Adult speakers of Canadian English will produce syllables embedded in a carries phrase and meaningful sentences. Target regions for consonants will be established based on points of maximum tongue elevation during consonants. Measures of the target region locations and sizes as well as anthropomorphic measures will be obtained. The results of this study are expected to provide essential data for refining the contemporary theories of speech motor control and to lead to the development of a visual model of consonant target regions to be used in future studies of visual information in speech motor learning.