On explaining intrinsic vowel duration differences: An electromagnetic midsagittal articulometer (EMMA) study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether intrinsic vowel duration differences arise from an explicit timing control strategy or solely from the distance an articulator travels. Presumably, a difference in control strategy would be reflected in a change in the relation of peak velocity to distance traveled, or in the amount of time position is maintained. An EMMA system was used to track movements of points on the tongue and jaw during the production of /dVs/ (V=/e, E, æ, a, inverted vee/) tokens in a constant frame at two different speaking rates. Measurements were made of target position, distance traveled, and peak velocity for each gesture toward and away from the vowel target. Preliminary results from one speaker suggest that the duration of articulatory movement can be well predicted by articulatory distance and peak velocity alone. Furthermore, all of the unreduced vowels measured in the study showed a similar relationship between peak velocity and displacement, suggesting that the same control strategy was used for all of them. [Work supported by NIH.]