Task-dependence of articulator synergies.

Abstract

In speech production, the motor system organizes articulators such as the jaw, tongue, and lips into synergies whose function is to produce speech sounds by forming constrictions at the phonetic places of articulation. The present study tests whether synergies for different constriction tasks differ in terms of inter-articulator coordination. The test is conducted on utterances [ɑpɑ], [ɑtɑ], [ɑiɑ], and [ɑkɑ] with a real-time magnetic resonance imaging biomarker that is computed using a statistical model of the forward kinematics of the vocal tract. The present study is the first to estimate the forward kinematics of the vocal tract from speech production data. Using the imaging biomarker, the study finds that the jaw contributes least to the velar stop for [k], more to pharyngeal approximation for [ɑ], still more to palatal approximation for [i], and most to the coronal stop for [t]. Additionally, the jaw contributes more to the coronal stop for [t] than to the bilabial stop for [p]. Finally, the study investigates how this pattern of results varies by participant. The study identifies differences in inter-articulator coordination by constriction task, which support the claim that inter-articulator coordination differs depending on the active articulator synergy.