Cinegraphic Observations of the Larynx during Voiced and Voiceless Stops

Abstract

Observations of laryngeal operation in running speech were made with a flexible fiberoptics bundle passed through the nose and coupled to a cinecamera. A previous report based on observations of a single subject concluded that English sounds with predominant noise source, i.e., the aspirated stops and voiceless fricatives, are produced with separation of the arytenoids, and that sounds with predominant quasiperiodic source are produced without such opening. The present paper extends our study to three speakers of American English, but limits attention to sounds not always distinguishable on the basis of earlier observations: unaspirated /p,k/ and /b,g/. Our present data indicate that these two classes are almost always different in respect to positioning of the arytenoids. The few anomolous cases include both /b,g/ with slight separation of the arytenoids and pulsing interruption, and /p,k/ with neither of these phenomena. Aside from articulatory “noise,” these cases may be explained by reference to factors such as coarticulation or context effects and the relative timing of laryngeal and supraglottal activities. [This research was supported mainly by the National Institute of Dental Research.]