The Distinctness of Speakers' /s/—/∫/ Contrast Is Related to Their Auditory Discrimination and Use of an Articulatory Saturation Effect

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1259-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Perkell ◽  
Melanie L. Matthies ◽  
Mark Tiede ◽  
Harlan Lane ◽  
Majid Zandipour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Saturation Effect ◽  
Alveolar Ridge ◽  
Discriminative Performance ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
High Discrimination ◽  
Biomechanical Effect ◽  
Speech Motor

This study examines individual differences in producing the sibilant contrast in American English and the relation of those differences to 2 speaker characteristics: (a) use of a quantal biomechanical effect (called a "saturation effect") in producing the sibilants and (b) performance on a test of sibilant discrimination. Twenty participants produced the sibilants /s/ and /∫/ in normal-, clear-, and fast-speaking conditions. The degree to which the participants used a saturation effect in producing /s/ and /∫/ was assessed with a custom-made sensor that measured contact of the underside of the tongue tip with the lower alveolar ridge; such contact normally occurs during the production of /s/ but not /∫/. The acuteness of the participants' discrimination of the sibilant contrast was measured using the ABX paradigm and synthesized sibilants. Differences among speakers in the degree of acoustic contrast between /s/ and /∫/ that they produced proved related to differences among them in their use of contact contrastively and in their discriminative performance. The most distinct sibilant productions were obtained from participants who used contact in producing /s/ but not /∫/ and who had high discrimination scores. The participants who did not use contact differentially when producing the 2 sibilants and who also discriminated the synthetic sibilants less well produced the least distinct sibilant contrasts. Intermediate degrees of sibilant contrast were found with participants who used contact differentially or discriminated well. These findings are compatible with a model of speech motor planning in which goals for phonemic speech movements are in somatosensory and auditory spaces.

First words and prosodic structures

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-121
Author(s):  
Marilyn May Vihman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
British English ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Prosodic Structures ◽  
Language Influence ◽  
First Words

This chapter presents data from four to eight children each learning one of six languages, British English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Italian, and Welsh. As a basis for cross-linguistic comparison the chapter first considers similarities and differences in the target forms of the first words of these children. It then presents the children’s later prosodic structures, including American English in the comparison. The chapter considers the development changes apparent from comparing the first words with the later structures and quantifies the extent of variegation in first word targets and later child word forms. In concluding, it is found that common resources are strongly in evidence in the first words but by the later point there is good evidence of ambient language influence as well as of individual differences within the groups.

scholarly journals Examining speech motor planning difficulties in apraxia of speech and aphasia via the sequential production of phonetically similar words

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Marja-Liisa Mailend ◽  
Edwin Maas ◽  
Pélagie M. Beeson ◽  
Brad H. Story ◽  
Kenneth I. Forster
Keyword(s):  
Motor Planning ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

Evidence of an articulatory saturation effect in the production of /s/ in American English.

2009 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 2569-2569
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Perkell ◽  
Melanie L. Matthies ◽  
Mark Tiede
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Saturation Effect

scholarly journals Speech motor planning in the context of phonetically similar words: Evidence from apraxia of speech and aphasia

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 171-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja-Liisa Mailend ◽  
Edwin Maas ◽  
Pélagie M. Beeson ◽  
Brad H. Story ◽  
Kenneth I. Forster
Keyword(s):  
Motor Planning ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

scholarly journals Behavioral and neural correlates of speech motor sequence learning in stuttering and neurotypical speakers: an fMRI investigation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Masapollo
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Motor Practice ◽  
Speech Motor

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired execution of articulatory movements needed for fluent speech production. Existing theoretical models propose that these deficits reflect a malfunction in the cortico-basal-ganglia-thalamocortical (cortico-BG) loop that is responsible for selecting and initiating speech motor programs. However, the cortico-BG loop has also been hypothesized to play a role in speech motor learning. To distinguish motor execution impairments from motor learning impairments in stuttering, the authors examined the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls. Participants intensively practiced producing pseudowords containing non-native consonant clusters over two days. Results showed that, behaviorally, both AWS and controls produced the words with increased speed and accuracy following motor practice, and the rate of improvement was comparable for the two groups. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared brain activity during articulation of the practiced words and a set of novel pseudowords (matched in phonetic complexity). FMRI analyses revealed no differences between AWS and controls in cortical or subcortical regions; both groups showed comparable increases in activation in left-lateralized brain areas implicated in phonological working memory and speech motor planning during production of the novel sequences compared to the practiced sequences. Moreover, activation in left-lateralized basal ganglia sites was negatively correlated with stuttering severity in AWS. Collectively, these findings indicate that AWS exhibit no deficit in learning novel speech sequences but do show impaired execution of these sequences prior to and after learning.

scholarly journals Behavioral and neural correlates of speech motor sequence learning in stuttering and neurotypical speakers: an fMRI investigation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-86
Author(s):  
Matthew Masapollo ◽  
Jennifer A. Segawa ◽  
Deryk S. Beal ◽  
Jason A. Tourville ◽  
Alfonso Nieto-Castañón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Motor Sequence Learning ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Motor Practice ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Speech Motor

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired production of coordinated articulatory movements needed for fluent speech. It is currently unknown whether these abnormal production characteristics reflect disruptions to brain mechanisms underlying the acquisition and/or execution of speech motor sequences. To dissociate learning and control processes, we used a motor sequence learning paradigm to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls. Participants intensively practiced producing pseudowords containing non-native consonant clusters (e.g., “gvasf”) over two days. The behavioral results indicated that although the two experimental groups showed comparable learning trajectories, AWS performed significantly worse on the task prior to and after speech motor practice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared brain activity during articulation of the practiced words and a set of novel pseudowords (matched in phonetic complexity). FMRI analyses revealed no differences between AWS and controls in cortical or subcortical regions; both groups showed comparable increases in activation in left-lateralized brain areas implicated in phonological working memory and speech motor planning during production of the novel sequences compared to the practiced sequences. Moreover, activation in left-lateralized basal ganglia sites was negatively correlated with in-scanner mean disfluency in AWS. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AWS exhibit no deficit in constructing new speech motor sequences but do show impaired execution of these sequences before and after they have been acquired and consolidated.

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