Advancements of phonetics in the 21st century: A critical appraisal of time and space in Articulatory Phonology

Abstract

Articulatory Phonology and Task Dynamics model spoken language mathematically based on dynamical systems, expressing the view that speaking is similar in nature to many other biological phenomena that have been described in this way. In this paper, we present a critical appraisal of developments in Articulatory Phonology and Task Dynamics in the 21st century, illustrating how this point of view addresses some fundamental questions in phonetics. Our paper identifies some of the key areas in which progress has been made, and others in which more progress is warranted. We thereby touch on recent work contributing to the empirical underpinning of some assumptions of the Task Dynamic model, then consider recent proposals of how Articulatory Phonology can deal with linguistically structured macro- and microscopic variation in constriction gestures induced by syllabic and phrasal prosodic structure. Part and parcel of these developments is the integration of the dynamical expression of phonological contrast into a model of utterance planning, and the structuring of the timeflow of speech by prosody. We finish our overview with a discussion on how a stronger link between articulation and acoustics could further enhance the dynamical approach to spoken language.