Abstract
Talkers signal important information to listeners in part by manipulating prosodic prominence. In English, this is typically achieved by producing more prominent words with greater durations, intensity, f0, and hyperarticulation, though this tendency may be reduced in talkers with motor speech disorders. In the present study, older adults with and without Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dysarthria engaged in a simple instructional game activity in which they directed a research confederate to move around pictures on a board. Utterances were designed to manipulate prominence on stop-initial monosyllabic target words that differed in onset voicing and following vowel quality. Non-prominent words were repeated in the spoken instructions (“Move the pot above the chair, now move the [pot] above the box”), while prominent words contrasted with a minimal pair differing in onset voicing (“Move the pot above the chair, now move the [bot] above the chair”). Eleven people with PD and 11 age- and gender-matched controls participated. Overall, prominent words were longer, louder, and higher pitched, though control speakers modulated f0 to a greater extent than talkers with PD. Both groups modulated the amount of voicing during closure but not VOT as a means of increasing stop voicing contrasts in prominent words.
Published Version
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