The role of air pressure and contact force in shaping obstruent consonant onset

Abstract

Soft tissues (the tongue or lips) are used to form the narrow oral constriction for turbulence noise generation during the production of obstruent consonants. The displacement of the soft tissue subject to oral pressure buildup is comparable to the vertical dimension of the constriction. The contact force during the closure of stop consonants and affricates provides a pressure load over 5 times larger than the air pressure at the surface in contact. It can influence the time variation of the constriction size at onset in the form of elastic energy stored in the compliant structure forming the constriction. A finite element fluid–structure interaction program has been used to simulate the effect of these external forces during the onset of obstruent consonants. Preliminary results from a 2‐D tongue tip constriction/closure model show that air pressure and contact force can introduce movement on the order of 0.1–0.2 mm during the first tens of milliseconds after release, which is enough to affect the size of the constriction at onset and the nature of release burst. The results of this kind can be used for speech synthesis, guiding the modification of the trajectories of articulators at the consonant onset. [Work supported by NIH.]