Kinematic studies of laryngeal articulation

Abstract

The present study was designed to contribute information on kinematic details of the glottal abduction‐adduction gesture in voiceless consonant production. Transillumination was used to record glottal movements. The linguistic material consisted of multiple repetitions of dental stops and fricatives which differed in stress and were spoken at two different rates. Two native American English speakers served as subjects. As expected, glottal opening was larger for fricatives than for stops. Preliminary kinematic results suggest a stable positive relationship between maximum displacement and peak velocity of glottal movements. That is, peak velocity of both abduction and adduction was positively correlated with peak glottal opening for both fricatives and stops. An increase in glottal opening was also associated with stress, with stressed voiceless consonants having a larger peak glottal opening than their unstressed counter‐parts. In general, peak velocity of glottal abduction was higher than that of glottal adduction. Results from laryngeal articulatory gestures are consistent with reports for other articulators. [Work supported by NINCDS and BRSG.]