Dissertation Research: Phonetic Theory and Cross-Linguistic Variation in Vowel Articulation

这是一项通过检查布达佩斯、斯特拉斯堡、多伦多和爱荷华市的存储库收集的x射线照片，对大量语言中元音发音的研究。不会再拍摄新的x光照片。通过对这些照片的比较，我们预计会发现，同一种语言的不同使用者之间的差异范围是有系统限制的，不同语言之间的元音发音也会有规律的差异。这项研究有可能为支持语音理论的发音定量模型做出贡献，到目前为止，语音理论在基本的感知特征和语音产生过程中语音轨道的实际配置之间建立了微弱的联系。研究者的假设是，存在一组有限的“发音启动词”，它们作为跨语言观察到的所有元音发音的构建块。

This is a study of the articulation of vowels in a large number of languages, through the examination of collections of x-ray photographs located in repositories in Budapest, Strasbourg, Toronto, and Iowa City. No new x-ray photographs will be made. It is expected that comparison of these photographs will demonstrate that the range of variation across speakers of a given language will be systematically constrained, and from language to language there will be regular differences in vowel articulation. This study has the potential to contribute to a quantitative model of articulation in support of phonological theory, which until now has made tenuous connections between basically perceptual features and the actual configuation of the vocal track during speech production. The hypothesis of the investigators is that there is a finite set of "articulatory primes" which serve as the building blocks of all vowel articulations observed across languages.