Articulatory cross-language study of initial consonant clusters in varying prosodic conditions

韵律结构不仅以时长和语调为标志，而且以所谓的发音强化为标志。这个项目的目的是通过分析在不同韵律条件下支配声母簇内部组织的发音原则，更好地理解韵律体系中音段层次和更高层次之间的相互作用。韵律变异在这个项目中有效地起到了双重作用：首先，更好地理解说话人的发音行为是如何向听话者提供有关韵律结构的信息是一个有趣的话题。其次，韵律变异作为一种探索器，揭示了手势群的内部结构：单个手势的稳定性有多大，不同手势之间的凝聚力有多强？词簇特别有趣有几个原因：(1)还不知道词簇的哪个部分或性质会在韵律突出的位置得到加强，例如在重音、重音或边界下--最初，(2)分析不同韵律条件下的词簇将使人们对术语“发音加强”的具体情况有新的了解，该术语包含了各种部分相反的现象。特别是考虑到德语、法语和英语这三种语言，将为统一特征增强、音质扩展、手势和超发音等理论提供更多的经验知识。(3)传统的音系学方法无法解释某些辅音序列的高频率，如声母+韵母簇。成功的集群可以是那些表现出高度显著的声学特性，同时仍然允许相当大的手势重叠(即实现信息的有效并行传输)的集群。通过分析几个发音器(舌头、下巴、膜、嘴唇、声门外展)的运动学和集群内的手势协调，我们希望找到在不太受欢迎的集群中存在发音限制的证据，或者避免掩饰相关线索的策略，如较少的手势重叠。辅音序列知觉的时间调整的相关性将在基于发音合成的知觉测试中进行评估。简而言之，我们的目标是从语言学和运动控制的角度更好地理解人类言语中一些最复杂的发音的认知表征，并潜在地揭示潜在的声音变化过程。

Prosodic structure is not only marked by durational and intonational means but also by socalled articulatory strengthening. This project aims at a better understanding of the interplay between the segmental tier and higher levels in the prosodic hierarchy by analysing articulatory principles governing the internal organization of initial consonant clusters under varying prosodic conditions. Prosodic variation effectively has a dual role in this project: Firstly, it is interesting topic in its own right to better understand how speakers¿ articulatory behaviour provides information on prosodic structure to the listener. Secondly, prosodic variation acts as a probe to reveal the internal structure of clusters: how stable are individual gestures, and how strong is the cohesion between different gestures? Clusters are particularly interesting for several reasons: (1) It is not known yet which part or property of a cluster will be enhanced in prosodically prominent positions such as under accent, stress, or boundary-initially, (2) Analysing clusters in different prosodic conditions will shed new light on the specifics of the term `articulatory strengthening¿ which subsumes a variety of partly opposing phenomena. Especially taking the three languages German, French and English into account will provide more empirical knowledge for corroborating attempts at unifying theories such as Feature Enhancement, Sonority Expansion, ¿-Gesture and Hyperarticulation. (3) Traditional phonological approaches have failed to account for the high frequency of certain consonant sequences, such as initial sibilant + stop clusters. ¿Successful¿ clusters may be those that exhibit highly salient acoustic properties while still permitting considerable gestural overlap (i.e achieving efficient parallel transmission of information). By analysing the kinematics of several articulators (tongue, jaw, velum, lips, glottal abduction) and the gestural coordination within clusters we hope to find evidence for articulatory constraints in less preferred clusters, e.g. stop ¿ nasal, or strategies for avoiding the masking of relevant cues such as less gestural overlap. The relevance of temporal adjustments for the perceptibility of consonant sequences will be evaluated in perception tests based on articulatory synthesis. In short, we aim for a better understanding of the cognitive representation of some of the most complex articulations in human speech, both from a linguistic and a motor control perspective, as well as potentially shedding light on processes underlying sound change.