Lingual target regions for consonants: constancy and variability across speakers

本研究的主要目的是探讨辅音发音的目标区域。这项工作是由于缺乏辅音发音的数据，以及随后在当代语音产生模型中辅音的代表性不足，尽管辅音在世界语言中的普遍地位及其对语音清晰度的重要性。该研究的具体目标包括：（1）确定辅音在说话者内和说话者之间的口腔中的目标区域的位置和大小是否不同，（2）确定声道几何形状的特征，特别是硬腭的形状，是否以及如何影响目标区域，（3）确定说话条件（例如，语速、清晰度等）影响辅音的目标区域特征，（4）确定在受控条件下和在有意义的语音中产生的目标区域的差异，以及（5）开发舌头目标区域的视觉模型。将使用一种新的电磁运动跟踪技术获取运动学和声学数据。加拿大英语的成年人会产生音节嵌入在一个携带短语和有意义的句子。辅音的目标区域将基于辅音期间最大舌头抬高的点来建立。将获得目标区域位置和大小的测量以及拟人测量。本研究的结果有望为完善当代言语运动控制理论提供必要的数据，并导致辅音目标区域的视觉模型的发展，用于未来的视觉信息在言语运动学习中的研究。

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.