Opening Gesture Research Articles

Schubert's "Erlkönig:" Motivic Parallelism and Motivic Transformation

In his landmark 1978 paper on motivic parallelism, Charles Burkhart demonstrated how the opening gesture of Schubert's piano introduction to Erlk6nig prefigures with two important surface motives-the arpeggiation and the neighbor-note figure--the song's large-scale tonal design: G-Bb-D-EK-D-G (see ex. 1).1 Burkhart further noted that the tonicizations that form this middleground parallelism coincide with the entreaties of the Erlking and thereby reflect the ongoing drama of the poetry. Taking these two notions of motivic parallelism and dramatic/harmonic association as a point of departure, I propose in this paper that Schubert's song achieves its richness of poetic depiction and musical coherence through two additional means. First, several musical motives and their associated poetic images are transformed in special ways; second, those motivic transformations create within the song a special form of coherence, a unity that involves a chromatic middleground structure.2 Because the song's structure is so intensely linked to that of the poem, we begin with an examination of the poetry itself (see box).3

Gestural aggregation in speech

It is well known that the units of speech are not produced strictly sequentially but overlap with each other; this phenomenon has been referred to as coarticulation, coproduction, or blending. Thus the vocal tract shape at any one time during speech represents an aggregate of gestures associated with different production units. The present experiment examines one intra-articulator example of temporal overlap, namely, the combination of successive opening and closing gestures in the larynx. Two subjects produced the utterance “Kiss Ted” at several different speaking rates and with stress on the first or second word. Laryngeal abduction-adduction was monitored using transillumination and fiberoptic video recording. At slow rates, two separate opening gestures occur associated with the fricative and the stop, respectively. At fast rates, a single smooth gesture is seen. At intermediate rates, partially overlapping gestures are found. These findings suggest that the two underlying gestures are being blended into a single aggregate and that the aggregation operation may be some type of summation. It is hypothesized that blending of overlapping gestures is a general phenomenon in speech production that accounts for commonly observed types of coarticulation. [Work supported by NINCDS Grants NS-13617 and NS-13870 to Haskins Laboratories.]

The role of rate of transition in the perception of place of articulation

Listeners can reliably identify the place of articulation of bilabial and alveolar stops in severely truncated CV syllables from just the initial 20 ms, but they need 40 ms or more to identify a velar. The need for a longer interval may reflect listeners' expectations that rate of transition should be slower for velars because of the slower opening gesture at this place of articulation [Kewley‐Port et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 73, 1779–1783 (1983)]. This paper investigates the perceptual effects of differences in rate of transition in two experiments. First, synthetic CV syllables, where the direction and magnitude of the F1, F2, and F3 transitions matched natural [ba,da,ga] syllables, but where the transition durations were varied in 15‐ms steps between 15 and 120 ms were presented to listeners for two‐interval, forced‐choice discrimination and for identification along a stop—glide dimension. If listeners expect longer transitions with velars, then they should accept stimuli with longer transitions as stops when the formants indicate a velar than when they indicate a bilabial or alveolar. Second, variation in F2 and F3 transitions between values appropriate for [da] and values appropriate to [ga] were combined with variation in the rate of transition; rate of transition was varied in 5‐ms steps between 20 and 60 ms. These stimuli were also presented to listeners in two‐interval, forced‐choice discrimination and identification of place of articulation tasks. It is expected that faster rates of transition will shift listeners' response to stimuli with F2 and F3 transitions near the [d]/[g] boundary toward [d] and slower transitions will shift them toward [g].

Superior lateral pharyngeal wall movements in speech.

Medial movements of the lateral pharyngeal wall at the level of the velopharyngeal port were examined by using a computerized ultrasound system. Subjects produced CVNVC sequences involving all combinations of the vowels /a/ and /u/ and the nasal consonants /n/ and /m/. The effects of both vowels on the CVN and NVC gestures (opening and closing of the velopharyngeal port, respectively) were assessed in terms of movement amplitude, duration, and movement onset time. The amplitude of both opening and closing gestures of the lateral pharyngeal wall was less in the context of the vowel /u/ than the vowel /a/. In addition, the onset of the opening gesture towards the nasal consonant was related to the identity of both the initial and the final vowels. The characteristics of the functional coupling of the velum and lateral pharyngeal wall in speech are discussed.

Development of lip and jaw control in the speech of children

Since previously reporting preliminary findings concerning lower lip and jaw velocity and displacement during the production of labial consonants by four children and three adults [B. L. Smith and T. Gartenberg, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 75, 1599–1605 (1984)], we have collected additional data from ten children in each of three age groups (5, 8, and 11 years of age) and from ten adults. Subjects produced five repetitions of each of the consonants [p, b, f, v, m] in different vowel environments (N = 100 utterances/subject). Velocity and displacement were measured for closing and opening gestures for upper lip, lower lip, and jaw. Based on results from six subjects/group, the children were found to move their articulators about 15%–25% more slowly than the adults, but this was due primarily to differences in mandibular velocity. Offsetting this difference in mandibular velocity was a tendency for the children to move their lower lips somewhat faster than the adults. Two issues raised in the pilot study concerning possible developmental differences between adults' and children's productions were investigated more closely in the present study, but no such differences were observed in this larger set of data. [Work supported by NINCDS.]

A Path Through "Density"

V ARESE'S FAMOUS FLUTE SOLO Density 21.5 begins in a simple and declarative way: the first three notes form a gestural unit by virtue of the comparative length of the third note, and then four more attacks bring a first phrase to a conclusion, since a silence then appears which separates the foregoing from the following music, which in fact starts with a repetition of the first three notes. The unmistakable sense of a second start in m. 3 not only reinforces the first-phrase status of the music that precedes, but clarifies the gestural identity of the first three notes, the extent of the quoted material in the new phrase. Both the nature of the gesture and the exact form of its continuation into a first phrase I find suggestive in terms of hearing the piece that then unfolds. First of all, there is the immediately apparent motivic value of the opening gesture as it reappears (or is clearly echoed) in mm. 3, 4, 9, 15, 21, 41 and 42-

The effects of varying lower-lip displacement on upper-lip movements: implications for the coordination of speech movements.

Upper-lip and lower-lip movements were transduced in the inferior-superior dimension in five normal-speaking subjects during four tasks. In task 1 visual feedback was used to manipulate the maximum displacement of the lower lip during speech. The upper lip elevated significantly less for the opening gesture when the amount of opening from the lower lip was increased. The upper lip moved to significantly lower positions for bilabial closure when the distance to be moved by the lower lip was increased. In task 2 the same procedures were followed with a bite block between the teeth. The bite block did not significantly change the interactions between lips for the opening gesture. The interactions were larger for bilabial closure with the bite block. In task 3 different vowels instead of visual feedback were used to manipulate lower-lip displacement. The relations between lips were similar to those found in task 1. In task 4 it was shown that these relations between lips are not found in nonspeech lower-lip movements. The interactions between lips are discussed in relation to models of speech motor control, including spatial targets, mass-spring systems, and planned trajectories.

One‐stage and two‐stage temporal patterns of velar coarticulation

Previous observations of the coarticulatory spread of nasality from a nasal consonant to adjacent vowels have yielded some contradictory evidence and two contradictory hypotheses: (a) coarticulatory timing is determined by segmental content and (hi coarticulation is coordinated in time with a particular articulatory gesture. Using transillumination of the velopharyngeal port, the timing patterns of velum opening were investigated in (C)VN, (C)VVN, and (C)VVVN sequences in languages lacking contrastively nasalized vowels. It was found that all speakers used two distinct patterns of velum opening, though with different frequencies of occurrence: first, a single opening gesture of smoothly increasing amplitude, its onset aligned with the first vowel onset irrespective of intervening boundaries; and second, a two‐stage opening gesture whose absolute onset was aligned as previously but whose higher‐velocity second stage was coordinated with the oral closing gesture for the nasal consonant. Thus we may have to recognize that speakers have available two alternative production strategies.

Obstruent production by hearing-impaired speakers: interarticulator timing and acoustics.

This study examines the organization of laryngeal control and interarticulator timing in the production of obstruents and obstruent clusters by three severely-profoundly deaf adults. Glottal activity was monitored by transillumination; temporal patterns of oral articulation (lips and tongue-palate) were recorded using an electrical transconductance technique. For each of the deaf speakers, an inappropriate abduction gesture was often found between words, a pattern never observed for hearing speakers. At the same time, the deaf speakers differed from each other with respect to types of errors, variability, and interarticulator coordination. For the most intelligible speaker, the timing of glottal opening with respect to oral articulation was most like that observed for normals. The second deaf speaker often failed to observe voicing contrasts with respect to glottal opening. This subject was nevertheless consistent in producing most plosives without a glottal opening, and all fricatives with an opening gesture. For the third deaf speaker, the pattern of errors was more complex and included both missing and inappropriate glottal opening gestures.

Laryngeal adjustments in Japanese voiceless sound production

As part of a series of investigations on the production of sequence of unvoiced sounds in different languages, the current experiment was conducted using the combined techniques of photo-electric glottography, fiberoptic filming and laryngeal electromyography. Particular attention was paid to devoiced vowel production in various voiceless consonantal environments including geminates. The data show that the glottal opening gesture during a voiceless sequence containing a devoiced vowel is characterized by a monomodal pattern, unless the vowel occurs between a voiceless fricative and a geminated one, such as /siQs/, where a bimodal pattern may occur. The movement results also suggest that the velocity and size of the glottal opening gesture vary according to the nature of the adjacent voiceless obstruents. The speed of the opening phase is slow when a stop precedes the vowel, and fast when a fricative precedes it. The peak glottal opening attained during the devoiced vowel is larger when a fricative either precedes or follows than when the vowel is surrounded on both sides by single or geminated stops. Furthermore, it is revealed that the peak velocity of the initial opening gesture occurs at almost the same time in relation to the voicing offset of the preceding vowel, regardless of the properties of the surrounding voiceless obstruents and, thus, irrespective of variations in the magnitude of velocity and opening size.

Laryngeal adjustments in the production of consonant clusters and geminates in American English

The glottal opening gesture and its timing control in various sequences of voiceless obstruents were investigated by the combined techniques of electromyography, photo-electric glottography, and fiberoptic endoscopy. The results obtained at both electromyographic and movement levels revealed that the glottal opening gesture is characterized by a one-, two-, or more-than-two-peaked pattern in a regular fashion according to the phonetic nature of the voiceless segments: each voiceless obstruent or geminate accompanied by aspiration or frication noise tends to require a single separate peak of the opening gesture, while an unaspirated stop embedded in a voiceless environment can be produced within the opening gesture attributed to an adjacent aspirated stop or fricative. Such an independent opening gesture of the glottis for the production of voiceless aspirated stops or voiceless fricatives even in sequentially unvoiced contexts can be interpreted as assuring the aerodynamic requirements for turbulent noise production during the aspirated stop or fricative segment.

Laryngeal‐oral coordination in the production of obstruents by hearing impaired speakers

The study examines the organization of laryngeal control and inter‐articulator timing in the production of voiceless obstruents by hearing impaired speakers. Three severe‐profoundly deaf adults served as subjects. Laryngeal activity was monitored by trans‐illumination; temporal patterns of oral articulation (lips and tongue‐palate) were recorded using an electrical transconductance technique. For each of the deaf speakers, an inappropriate abduction gesture immediately preceded production of the test word, a pattern never observed for hearing speakers. However, the deaf speakers differed from each other with respect to type of errors, variability, and interarticulator coordination. For the more intelligible deaf speaker, the timing of glottal opening with respect to oral articulation was most like that observed for normals. The second deaf speaker often failed to observe voicing contrasts with respect to glottal opening; that is, he failed to produce an opening gesture for voiceless obstruents as normals. For the third deaf speaker, the pattern of errors appears to be more complex including both missing and inappropriate glottal opening gestures. Data will be discussed with respect to listener judgments. [Work supported by NINCDS and BRSG.]

Laryngeal adjustments in Japanese voiceless sound production

As part of a series of investigations on the production of sequences of unvoiced sounds in different languages, the current experiment was conducted using the combined techniques of photoelectric glottography, fiberoptics, and electromyography. Particular attention was paid to devoiced vowel production in various voiceless consonantal environments including geminates. The movement data show that the glottal opening gesture during a voiceless sequence containing a devoiced vowel is characterized by a monomodal pattern, unless the vowel occurs between voiceless fricatives. The results also suggest that the velocity and size of the glottal opening gesture vary according to the nature of the adjacent voiceless obstruents. The speed of the opening phase is slow when a stop precedes the vowel, and fast when a fricative precedes it. The peak glottal opening during the devoiced vowel is larger when a fricative either precedes or follows it, and smaller when the vowel is surrounded on both sides by single or geminated stops. [Work supported by NINCDS and BRSG.]

Laryngeal adjustments in stutterers

Simultaneous recordings of voice and photoelectric glottogram during the speech production by stutterers were made. The subjects were asked to produce as quickly as possible each of 36 different meaningful words in response to a visual stimulus. The results revealed that some cases of part‐word (word initial voiceless stop) repetitions were accompanied by one or two extra opening gestures corresponding to the repeated aspiration noises. Similar trial‐and‐error types of the glottal movement were also detected even during silent delayed response time in some other cases which were auditorily judged as fluent. As for the production of the words begun with voiced sounds, unnecessary opening gestures prior to the vocalization for the initial voiced segment were sometimes observed, regardless of the judgements on its fluency and/or on the length of its latency. These findings suggest that at least this type of stuttering is linked to temporal disruption of the precisely controlled abducting and adducting gestures of the glottis, which are indispensable to fluent speech production. [Work supported by NINCDS and BRSG.]

Laryngeal adjustments during American English consonant cluster production

The glottal opening gesture and its timing control in clusters of voiceless obstruents was investigated by use of electromyography. Two distinct peaks in the abductor muscle (PCA) activity curve were found for /sk/ sequence when a word boundary intervened. but only one for the same sequence without the boundary. For the geminate combination /ss/ or /kk/, the abductor activity pattern was characterized by one single peak surrounded by gradual slopes, although a word boundary intervened within the cluster. In the case where word final /k/ was followed by word initial /s/ or /sk/, however, the abductor muscle showed one broad continuous but rather small peaked curve during the whole cluster. These results. together with transillumination and fiberoptic data, suggest that each voiceless obstruent characterized by aspiration or frication noise tends to require a single separate opening gesture, while an unaspirated stop in voiceless environment can be produced within the opening gesture attributed to the adjacent aspirated stop or fricative. [Work supported by NINCDS and BRSG.]

Temporal control of utterance-initial and -final stop consonants

Velopharyngeal and oral closing and opening gestures for utterance-initial and -final stop consonants were monitored from lateral-view cinefluorographic (100 fps) data for one normal English-speaking male repeating nonsense disyllables in isolation. Utterance-initially, the coordination and durations of velopharyngeal and oral closures were affected by both voicing and place of articulation of stops. Closure durations were consistently greater for voiced than voiceless stops; and, oral closures were longest for velars, intermediate for alveolars, and shortest for labials. Velopharyngeal closure characteristically lagged oral closure for initial stops, by as little as 50 msec for labials and as much as 100 msec for voiced velars, but was invariably complete at least 60 msec prior to oral release. The temporal variability of utterance-initial closure durations was relatively stable across place and voicing categories, though somewhat greater than for utterance-medial stops. Utterance-finally, no consistent place-of-articulation or voicing-related trends were observed for control of release gestures. Instead, articulatory timing in the latter environment was idiosyncratic, and not surprisingly, temporal variability was substantially greater than for the same segments utterance-initially. The temporal control characteristic of pre- and postpausal stop consonants will be compared to control for stops occurring intervocalically, and will be discussed in terms of the production constraints imposed by voicing and place of articulation. [Work supported by NIDR grant DE-00853 and NSF grant BNS 77-07686.]

Avant-Rock in the Classroom

SOCK and Roll, as any teacher knows, commands high interest among exactly those students whose juices run most contrary to school. A student who has been turned off all year to Serious Literature is suddenly turned by the Beatles. Knowing this, most of us are clever enough to give the Beatles a few spins to introduce our favorite literary dreadnoughts; or during a unit on poetry we turn 'to Simon and Garfunkel ballads for comparison. But beyond these opening gestures, our courage fails. We lumber ahead with Romantic Poetry or whatever, aware that the lethargy has returned by degrees. And no wonder. For the trick is too