An electroglottography examination of fricative and sonorous segments

Abstract

It has been previously suggested that fricative production is marked by a longer glottal opening as compared to sonorous segments. The present study uses electroglottography (EGG) and acoustic measurements to test this hypothesis by examining the activity of the vocal cords during the articulation of fricative and sonorant segments of English and Sorbian. An English and a Sorbian speakers' extended individual productions of the phonemes /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, m, n, r, l, a/ and each phoneme in the context #Ca were recorded. The open quotient was calculated using MATLAB. H1-H2 measures were taken at 5% into the vowel following each C and at 50% into the vowel. The results indicate that the glottis is open longer during the production of fricatives than for sonorous segments. Furthermore, the glottis is slightly more open for the production of nasals and liquids than it is for vowels. These results suggest that a longer glottal opening facilitates the increased airflow required to produce frication. This contrasts previous analyses which suggested that frication is primarily achieved through a tightened constriction. While a tighter constriction may be necessary, the increased airflow velocity produced by a longer glottal opening is critical for the production of frication.