An ultrasonographic study of lingual contortion speech

作者：Bressmann Tim^*

来源：Journal of Phonetics, 2012, 40(6): 830-836.

DOI：10.1016/j.wocn.2012.08.002

The present study evaluated global aspects of lingual movement and acoustics of speech with a contorted tongue. A male participant read four sentences from the Grandfather passage in a normal and three lingual contortion conditions. In the posterior contortion condition, the participant retracted his posterior tongue into the pharynx. In the anterior and posterior contortion conditions, this was combined with an anchoring of the tongue tip in the anterior floor of mouth. In the lateral contortion condition, the left side of the tongue was held along the lateral floor of mouth. Tongue movement in the midsagittal and the coronal planes was recorded with ultrasound, with parallel acoustic recordings. Analysis of average tongue speed in the midsagittal plane demonstrated different speed profiles for the contortion conditions. A principal component analysis yielded a protrusion/retraction and a dorsal height control component. In the lateral contortion condition, an additional component emerged. The analysis of the midsagittal groove from the coronal ultrasound demonstrated increased grooving in the posterior and the combined anterior and posterior contortion conditions. The lateral contortion led to an increase of convexity of the coronal tongue. The long-term average spectra demonstrated anti-resonances related to pharyngeal widening in the posterior and the combined anterior and posterior contortion conditions, as well as a decrease of high frequency components in all contortion conditions. The study offers first insights into tongue movement under different contortion conditions. Lingual contortion could serve as a paradigm for research about the plasticity of lingual movement in speech.

• 出版日期2012-11