Voice onset time as a cue for perceiving place of articulation in stop consonants

2012 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 3309-3309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Shuai ◽  
Tao Gong
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Place Of Articulation

The acquisition of voicing contrasts in Spanish and English learning infants and children: a longitudinal study

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Eilers ◽  
D. Kimbrough Oller ◽  
Carmen R. Benito-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Significant Evidence ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
One Year ◽  
English Group

ABSTRACTThe production of voice-onset time (VOT) was studied in a group of Spanish- and English-learning subjects at 1 and 2 years of age. Voice-onset time of initial stop consonants from canonical utterances was measured oscillographically. At one year no significant difference in VOT production was found between Spanish and English learners at any place of articulation. Mean VOT values for infants fell in the short lag range. By two years, four of the seven children in the English group and four of the children in the Spanish group showed significant evidence of having acquired the VOT distinction in stop consonants appropriate for their native language.

Development of Stop Consonants in Korean

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soyoung Lee ◽  
Gregory Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Korean Children ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Female Children ◽  
Developmental Characteristics ◽  
Sex And Age Differences ◽  
Adolescent Period

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to examine acoustically the developmental characteristics of Korean stops. Stop productions were obtained from 30 Korean male and female children in two age ranges (5 and 10 years). Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) delay and fundamental frequency (f 0) at the onset of vowel were measured for sequences of word-initial stop followed by the vowel /a/. These were analysed as a function of age, sex, place of articulation and stop manner category. Measure-ments of f 0 were also made at the middle of the vowel /i/ in order to compare with vowel-onset f 0. Results revealed that VOT values were not significantly different in terms of age, but did differ by sex in that boys produced significantly longer VOT lag than girls in the aspirated stop series. In addition, VOT varied by stop category and place of articulation. Vowel-onset f 0 differed between sexes as well as by stop manner category, but vowel-middle f 0 was not significantly different be-tween sexes. As expected, both vowel-onset and vowel-middle f 0 were higher in 5 year-old children than in 10 year-old children. The results of this study indicate that, overall, differences which corre-late with sex and age are more prominent for laryngeal tension distinctions than for temporal coordi-nation gestures in Korean children, suggesting that sex and age differences in stop consonants during the pre-adolescent period should be examined across languages.

Phonetic feature size in second language acquisition: Examining VOT in voiceless and voiced stops

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110089
Author(s):  
Daniel J Olson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Featural approaches to second language phonetic acquisition posit that the development of new phonetic norms relies on sub-phonemic features, expressed through a constellation of articulatory gestures and their corresponding acoustic cues, which may be shared across multiple phonemes. Within featural approaches, largely supported by research in speech perception, debate remains as to the fundamental scope or ‘size’ of featural units. The current study examines potential featural relationships between voiceless and voiced stop consonants, as expressed through the voice onset time cue. Native English-speaking learners of Spanish received targeted training on Spanish voiceless stop consonant production through a visual feedback paradigm. Analysis focused on the change in voice onset time, for both voiceless (i.e. trained) and voiced (i.e. non-trained) phonemes, across the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. The results demonstrated a significant improvement (i.e. reduction) in voice onset time for voiceless stops, which were subject to the training paradigm. In contrast, there was no significant change in the non-trained voiced stop consonants. These results suggest a limited featural relationship, with independent voice onset time (VOT) cues for voiceless and voices phonemes. Possible underlying mechanisms that limit feature generalization in second language (L2) phonetic production, including gestural considerations and acoustic similarity, are discussed.

Temporal Encoding of the Voice Onset Time Phonetic Parameter by Field Potentials Recorded Directly From Human Auditory Cortex

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 2346-2357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell Steinschneider ◽  
Igor O. Volkov ◽  
M. Daniel Noh ◽  
P. Charles Garell ◽  
Matthew A. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Field Potentials ◽  
Heschl’S Gyrus ◽  
Heschl's Gyrus

Voice onset time (VOT) is an important parameter of speech that denotes the time interval between consonant onset and the onset of low-frequency periodicity generated by rhythmic vocal cord vibration. Voiced stop consonants (/b/, /g/, and /d/) in syllable initial position are characterized by short VOTs, whereas unvoiced stop consonants (/p/, /k/, and t/) contain prolonged VOTs. As the VOT is increased in incremental steps, perception rapidly changes from a voiced stop consonant to an unvoiced consonant at an interval of 20–40 ms. This abrupt change in consonant identification is an example of categorical speech perception and is a central feature of phonetic discrimination. This study tested the hypothesis that VOT is represented within auditory cortex by transient responses time-locked to consonant and voicing onset. Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) elicited by stop consonant-vowel (CV) syllables were recorded directly from Heschl's gyrus, the planum temporale, and the superior temporal gyrus in three patients undergoing evaluation for surgical remediation of medically intractable epilepsy. Voiced CV syllables elicited a triphasic sequence of field potentials within Heschl's gyrus. AEPs evoked by unvoiced CV syllables contained additional response components time-locked to voicing onset. Syllables with a VOT of 40, 60, or 80 ms evoked components time-locked to consonant release and voicing onset. In contrast, the syllable with a VOT of 20 ms evoked a markedly diminished response to voicing onset and elicited an AEP very similar in morphology to that evoked by the syllable with a 0-ms VOT. Similar response features were observed in the AEPs evoked by click trains. In this case, there was a marked decrease in amplitude of the transient response to the second click in trains with interpulse intervals of 20–25 ms. Speech-evoked AEPs recorded from the posterior superior temporal gyrus lateral to Heschl's gyrus displayed comparable response features, whereas field potentials recorded from three locations in the planum temporale did not contain components time-locked to voicing onset. This study demonstrates that VOT at least partially is represented in primary and specific secondary auditory cortical fields by synchronized activity time-locked to consonant release and voicing onset. Furthermore, AEPs exhibit features that may facilitate categorical perception of stop consonants, and these response patterns appear to be based on temporal processing limitations within auditory cortex. Demonstrations of similar speech-evoked response patterns in animals support a role for these experimental models in clarifying selected features of speech encoding.

Voice Onset Time of Velar Stop Productions in Aged Speakers

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Petrosino ◽  
Roger D. Colcord ◽  
Karen B. Kurcz ◽  
Robert J. Yonker
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
Healthy Young Adult ◽  
Apparent Increase ◽  
Older Subjects

Voice onset time (VOT) was measured for voiced and voiceless velar stop consonants across three vowel contexts (/i, a, u/) in healthy young adult and older subjects. Analysis showed that mean VOT values for both /k/ and /g/ across the three vowel contexts did not differ between the two groups; however, differences in VOT variability (standard deviation) approached significance; the older subjects exhibited increased variability. This apparent increase in variability may be related to the subtle anatomical and physiological changes with age.

The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: task and stimulus effects

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Pater
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Stimulus Effects ◽  
Parallel Effect ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This article presents a follow-up to Curtin et al.’s study of the perceptual acquisition of Thai laryngeal contrasts by native speakers of English, which found that subjects performed better on contrasts in voice than aspiration. This finding - surprising in light of earlier cross-linguistic voice onset time (VOT) research - was attributed to the fact that the task tapped lexical representations, which are unspecified for aspiration according to standard assumptions in generative phonology. The present study further investigated possible task effects by examining the discrimination and categorization of the same stimuli in various experimental conditions. Stimulus effects were also investigated by performing token-based analyses of the results, and by comparing them to acoustic properties of the tokens. The outcome of the discrimination experiment was the opposite of the earlier study, with significantly better performance on contrasts in aspiration than voice, even on a lexical task. A second finding of this experiment is that place of articulation interacts with the perception of the laryngeal distinctions; the aspiration distinction is discriminated better on the labials, and voice on alveolars. A parallel effect of place of articulation was also found in a categorization experiment.

scholarly journals Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Phonetic Realization

This paper reports results of a quantitative phonetic study of Kabardian, a Northwest Caucasian language that is of typological interest from a phonetic standpoint. A number of cross-linguistically rare properties are examined. These features include the phonetic realization of Kabardian's small vowel inventory, which contains only three contrastive vowel qualities (two short vowels and one long vowel), spectral characteristics of the ten supralaryngeal voiceless fricatives of Kabardian, as well as the acoustic, palatographic, and aerodynamic characteristics of ejective fricatives, an extremely rare type of segment cross-linguistically. In addition, basic properties of the consonant stop series are explored, including closure duration and voice onset time, in order to test postulated universals linking these properties to place of articulation and laryngeal setting.

Stop consonant productions of Korean–English bilingual children

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUE ANN S. LEE ◽  
GREGORY K. IVERSON
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Developmental Period ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
English Bilingual

The purpose of this study was to conduct an acoustic examination of the obstruent stops produced by Korean–English bilingual children in connection with the question of whether bilinguals establish distinct categories of speech sounds across languages. Stop productions were obtained from ninety children in two age ranges, five and ten years: thirty Korean–English bilinguals, thirty monolingual Koreans and thirty monolingual English speakers. Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) lag at word-initial stop and fundamental frequency (f0) in the following vowel (hereafter vowel-onset f0) were measured. The bilingual children showed different patterns of VOT in comparison to both English and Korean monolinguals, with longer VOT in their production of Korean stop consonants and shorter VOT for English. Moreover, the ten-year-old bilinguals distinguished all stop categories using both VOT and vowel-onset f0,whereas the five-year-olds tended to make stop distinctions based on VOT but not vowel-onset f0. The results of this study suggest that bilingual children at around five years of age do not yet have fully separate stop systems, and that the systems continue to evolve during the developmental period.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document