Prosodic effects on speech gestures: A shape analysis based on functional data analysis

Abstract

Prosodic phrasing and prominence modulate the production of speech gestures by increasing their duration and often also the amplitude. Here we investigate whether the shape of bilabial and dorsal constriction and release gestures is affected by phrase boundary strength and lexical stress. Articulatory movements of four speakers of German were recorded with 3D EMA. 8 bisyllabic test words starting with the clusters /kn, kl, ps, pl/ and either stressed on the first or on the second syllable were embedded in sentences that elicited phrase boundaries of different strengths. Vertical tongue back movements and lip aperture from the constriction onset to the release offset of the initial consonant were extracted and time and amplitude normalized. In order to investigate shape differences a functional principal component analysis (see Ramsay & Silverman 2002) was performed. The resulting factor scores quantify gestural shape differences. The results indicate that boundary strength affects the skewness, i.e. targe...