Abstract
In the present paper we address the old question of respiratory planning in speech production. We recast the problem in terms of speakers' communicative goals and propose that speakers try to minimize respiratory effort in line with the H&H theory. We analyze respiratory cycles coinciding with no speech (i.e., silence), short verbal feedback expressions (SFE's) as well as longer vocalizations in terms of parameters of the respiratory cycle and find little evidence for respiratory planning in feedback production. We also investigate timing of speech and SFEs in the exhalation and contrast it with nods. We find that while speech is strongly tied to the exhalation onset, SFEs are distributed much more uniformly throughout the exhalation and are often produced on residual air. Given that nods, which do not have any respiratory constraints, tend to be more frequent toward the end of an exhalation, we propose a mechanism whereby respiratory patterns are determined by the trade-off between speakers' communicative goals and respiratory constraints.
Highlights
As soon as the focus of a speech researcher’s attention shifts from lab setups organized around read speech toward more interactive settings involving spontaneous conversation, one is struck by how many speech phenomena go otherwise unnoticed
We examined how respiratory amplitude varied across cycles in silent breathing, cycles coinciding with very short utterances (VSUs) and cycles including speech
Both the figure and the mean amplitudes across the three cycle types (35.7, 36.4, and 42.9 for VSU, silent and speech cycles, respectively) indicate that VSU cycles were more similar to silent cycles than to speech breathing, which was characterized by substantially greater amplitude
Summary
As soon as the focus of a speech researcher’s attention shifts from lab setups organized around read speech toward more interactive settings involving spontaneous conversation, one is struck by how many speech phenomena go otherwise unnoticed. While this is both an obvious and seemingly uninteresting observation, the somewhat unexpected upshot of this shift of focus is recasting of familiar problems in novel and often unexpected ways. We would like to perpetrate one such shift with respect to an old-standing problem of respiratory markers of speech planning. We hope to demonstrate that by including these elements, the effects are not reproduced but rather reinterpreted and the puzzle becomes simpler rather than more difficult
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
