Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:12:04.411Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Towards an articulatory phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2008

Catherine P. Browman
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories and Yale University
Louis M. Goldstein
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories and Yale University

Abstract

We propose an approach to phonological representation based on describing an utterance as an organised pattern of overlapping articulatory gestures. Because movement is inherent in our definition of gestures, these gestural ‘constellations’ can account for both spatial and temporal properties of speech in a relatively simple way. At the same time, taken as phonological representations, such gestural analyses offer many of the same advantages provided by recent nonlinear phonological theories, and we give examples of how gestural analyses simplify the description of such ‘complex segments’ as /s/–stop clusters and prenasalised stops. Thus, gestural structures can be seen as providing a principled link between phonological and physical description.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper has benefited greatly from the comments and criticisms of several dozen colleagues, primarily from Haskins, Yale and UCLA. We only wish we could thank each of them individually here. Any weaknesses remaining in the paper are due solely to our own intransigence in the face of their patient and generous critiques. (This work was supported in part by NIH grants HD-01994, NS-13870 and NS-13617 to Haskins Laboratories.)

References

Abbs, J. H.Gracco, V. L.Cole, K. J. (1984). Control of multimovement coordination: sensorimotor mechanisms in speech motor programming. Journal of Motor Behavior 16. 195231.Google Scholar
Abercrombie, D. (1967). Elements of general phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Abraham, R. H.Shaw, C. D. (1982). Dynamics – the geometry of behavior. Santa Cruz: Aerial Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. M.Jones, C. (1974). Three theses concerning phonological representations. JL 10. 126.Google Scholar
Anderson, S. R. (1974). The organization of phonology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, S. R. (1976). Nasal consonants and the internal structure of segments. Lg 52. 326344.Google Scholar
Anderson, S. R. (1978). Syllables, segments and the Northwest Caucasian languages. In Bell, A.Hooper, J. B. (eds.) Syllables and segments. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 4758.Google Scholar
Aronoff, M.Oehrle, R. T. (eds.) (1984). Language sound structure. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bell-Berti, F.Harris, K. S. (1981). A temporal model of speech production. Phonetica 38. 920.Google Scholar
Benguerel, A.-P.Hirose, H.Sawashima, M.Ushijima, T. (1977). Velar coarticulation in French: a fiberscopic study. JPh 5. 149158.Google Scholar
Bernstein, N. (1967). The coordination and regulation of movements. London: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Browman, C. P.Goldstein, L. M. (1985). Dynamic modeling of phonetic structure. In Fromkin, (1985). 3553.Google Scholar
Browman, C. P.Goldstein, L. M.Kelso, J. A. S.Rubin, P. E.Saltzman, E. L. (1984). Articulatory synthesis from underlying dynamics. JASA 75. S22–S23.Google Scholar
Cairns, C. E.Feinstein, M. H. (1982). Markedness and the theory of syllable structure. LI 13. 193225.Google Scholar
Catford, J. C. (1977). Fundamental problems in phonetics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N.M., Halle (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper … Row.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. (1980). Vowel harmony in nonlinear generative phonology: an autosegmental model (1976 version). Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N.Keyser, S. J. (1983). CV phonology: a generative theory of the syllable. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cooke, J. D. (1980). The organization of simple, skilled movements. In Stelmach, Requin, (1980). 199212.Google Scholar
Ewen, C. J. (1982). The internal structure of complex segments. In van der Huist, H.Smith, N. (eds.) The structure of phonological representations. Vol. 2. Dordrecht: Foris. 2767.Google Scholar
Feinstein, M. H. (1979). Prenasalization and syllable structure. LI 10. 245278.Google Scholar
Fel'dman, A. G. (1966). Functional tuning of the nervous system with control of movement or maintenance of a steady posture. III: Mechanographic analysis of execution by man of the simplest motor tasks. Biophysics II. 766775.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E.Port, R. (1981). Cross-language phonetic interference: Arabic to English. Language and Speech 24. 125146.Google Scholar
Fourakis, M. S. (1980). A phonetic study of sonorant–fricative clusters in two dialects of English. Research in Phonetics, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University I. 167200.Google Scholar
Fowler, C. A. (1977) Timing control in speech production. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Fowler, C. A. (1980). Coarticulation and theories of extrinsic timing. JPh 8. 113133.Google Scholar
Fowler, C. A. (1983). Converging sources of evidence on spoken and perceived rhythms of speech: cyclic production of vowels in monosyllabic stress feet. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 112. 386412.Google Scholar
Fowler, C. A.Rubin, P. E.Remez, R. E.Turvey, M. T. (1980). Implications for speech production of a general theory of action. In Butterworth, B. (ed.) Language production. New York: Academic Press. 373420.Google Scholar
Fromkin, V. A. (ed.) (1985). Phonetic linguistics. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fujimura, O. (1981). Temporal organization of articulatory movements as a multidimensional phrasal structure. Phonetica 38. 6683.Google Scholar
Fujimura, O.Kiritani, S.Ishida, H. (1973). Computer controlled radiography for observation of movements of articulatory and other human organs. Computers in Biology and Medicine 3. 371384.Google Scholar
Fukui, N.Hirose, H. (1983). Laryngeal adjustments in Danish voiceless obstruent production. Annual Bulletin, Research Institute of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, University of Tokyo 17. 6171.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, J. A. (1976). Autosegmental phonology. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Haggard, M. (1973). Abbreviation of consonants in English pre- and post-vocalic clusters. JPh I. 924.Google Scholar
Halle, M.Vergnaud, J.-R. (1980). Three dimensional phonology. Journal of Linguistic Research I. 83105.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. (1981). A metrical theory of stress rules. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Herbert, R. K. (1975). Reanalyzing prenasalized consonants. Studies in African Linguistics 6. 105123.Google Scholar
Hockett, C. F. (1955) A manual of phonology. Baltimore: Waverly Press.Google Scholar
Hooper, J. B. (1972). The syllable in phonological theory. Lg 48. 525540.Google Scholar
Hooper, J. B. (1976). An introduction to natural generative phonology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1914). Lehrbuch der Phonetik. Leipzig: Teubner.Google Scholar
Kahn, D. (1976). Syllable-based generalizations in English phonology. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Keating, P. A. (1984). Phonetic and phonological representation of stop consonant voicing. Lg 60. 286319.Google Scholar
Keating, P. A. (1985). Universal phonetics and the organization of grammars. In Fromkin, (1985). 115132.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Holt, K. G. (1980). Exploring a vibratory systems analysis of human movement production. Journal of Neurophysiology 43. 11831196.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Holt, K. G.Rubin, P. E.Kugler, P. N. (1981). Patterns of human interlimb coordination emerge from the properties of nonlinear limit cycle oscillatory processes: theory and data. Journal of Motor Behavior 13. 226261.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Tuller, B. (1984a). A dynamical basis for action systems. In Gazzaniga, M. (ed.) Handbook of cognitive neuroscience. New York: Plenum Press. 321356.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Tuller, B. (1984b). Converging evidence in support of common dynamical principles for speech and movement coordination. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 246. R928–R935.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Tuller, B. (1985). Intrinsic time in speech production: theory, methodology, and preliminary observations. Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research SR-81. 2339.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Tuller, B.Harris, K. S. (1983). A ‘dynamic pattern’ perspective on the control and coordination of movement. In MacNeilage, (1983). 137173.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Tuller, B.Vatikiotis-Bateson, E.Fowler, C. A. (1984). Functionally specific articulatory cooperation following jaw perturbations during speech: evidence for coordinative structures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 10. 812832.Google Scholar
Kelso, J. A. S.Vatikiotis-Bateson, E.Saltzman, E. L.Kay, B. (1985). A qualitative dynamic analysis of reiterant speech production: phase portraits, kinematics, and dynamic modeling. JASA 77. 266280.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D.Carney, P. J.Severeid, L. R. (1974). Velar movement and timing: evaluation of a model for binary control. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 17. 470488.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D.Moll, K. L. (1969). Vocal-tract characteristics of the stop cognates. JASA 46. 15491555.Google Scholar
Kugler, P. N.Kelso, J. A. S.Turvey, M. T. (1980). On the concept of coordinative structures as dissipative structures: I. Theoretical lines of convergence. In Stelmach, Requin, (1980). 347.Google Scholar
Kuipers, A. H. (1976). Typologically salient features of some Northwest Caucasian languages. Studia Caucasia 3. 101127.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (1971). Preliminaries to linguistic phonetics. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (1980). What are linguistic sounds made of? Lg 56. 485502.Google Scholar
Lass, R. (1984). Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lehiste, I. (1970). Suprasegmentals. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Liberman, A.Coopei, F.Shankweiler, D.Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review 74. 431436.Google Scholar
Liberman, A. M.Mattingly, I. G. (1985). The motor theory of speech perception revised. Cognition 21. 136.Google Scholar
Liberman, M.Pierrehumbert, J. (1984). Intonational invariance under changes in pitch range and length. In Aronoff, Oehrle, (1984). 157233.Google Scholar
Liberman, M.Prince, A. (1977). On stress and linguistic rhythm. LI 8. 249336.Google Scholar
Lindau, M. (1984). Phonetic differences in glottalic consonants. JPh 12. 147155.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1967). Vowel duration and a model of lip mandible coordination. Quarterly Progress and Status Report, Speech Transmission Laboratory, University of Stockholm 4. 129.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B.Rapp, K. (1973). Some temporal regularities of spoken Swedish. Papers from the Institute of Linguistics, University of Stockholm 21. 158.Google Scholar
Lisker, L. (1974). On time and timing in speech. In Sebeok, T. A. (ed.) Current trends in linguistics 12. The Hague: Mouton. 23872418.Google Scholar
Lisker, L.Abramson, A. S. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: acoustical measurements. Word 20. 384422.Google Scholar
Löfqvist, A. (1980). Interarticulator programming in stop production. JPh 8. 475490.Google Scholar
Löfqvist, A.Yoshioka, H. (1980a). Laryngeal activity in Swedish obstruent clusters. JASA 68. 792801.Google Scholar
Löfqvist, A.Yoshioka, H. (1980b). Laryngeal activity in Icelandic obstruent production. Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research SR-63/64. 272292.Google Scholar
Löfqvist, A.Yoshioka, H. (1985). Intrasegmental timing: laryngeal-oral coordination in voiceless consonant production. Speech Communication 3. 279289.Google Scholar
Lovins, J. B. (1978). ‘Nasal reduction’ in English syllable codas. CLS 14. 241253.Google Scholar
McCarthy, J. J. (1981). A prosodic theory of nonconcatenative morphology. LI 12. 373418.Google Scholar
McCarthy, J. J. (1984). Prosodic organization in morphology. In Aronoff … Oehrle (1984). 299317.Google Scholar
MacNeilage, P. F. (ed.) (1983). The production of speech. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Mattingly, I. G. (1981). Phonetic representation and speech synthesis by rule. In Myers, T.Laver, J.Anderson, J. (eds.) The cognitive representation of speech. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 415420.Google Scholar
Mitleb, F. M. (1984). Voicing effect on vowel duration is not an absolute universal. JPh 12. 2327.Google Scholar
Nurse, D. (1979). Classification of the Chaga dialects. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar
Ohala, J. J. (1974). Experimental historical phonology. In Anderson, J. M.Jones, C. (eds.) Historical linguistics. Vol. 2. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 353389.Google Scholar
Öhman, S. E. G. (1966). Coarticulation in VCV utterances: spectrographic measurernents. JASA 39. 151168.Google Scholar
Ostry, D. J.Munhall, K. (1985). Control of rate and duration of speech movements. JASA 77. 640648.Google Scholar
Pétursson, M. (1977). Timing of glottal events in the production of aspiration after [s]. JPh 5. 205212.Google Scholar
Pike, K. L. (1943). Phonetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Polit, A.Bizzi, E. (1978). Processes controlling arm movements in monkeys. Science 201. 12351237.Google Scholar
Port, R. F. (1981). Linguistic timing factors in combination. JASA 69. 262274.Google Scholar
Port, R. F.O'Dell, M. L. (1984). Neutralization of syllable final voicing in German. Research in Phonetics, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University 4. 93133.Google Scholar
Prince, A. S. (1984). Phonology with tiers. In Aronoff … Oehrle (1984). 234244.Google Scholar
Raphael, L. J.Dorman, M. F.Freeman, F.Tobin, C. (1975). Vowel and nasal duration as cues to voicing in word-final stop consonants: spectrographic and perceptual studies. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 18. 389400.Google Scholar
Rosen, R. (1970). Dynamical system theory in biology. Vol. 1: Stability theory and its applications. New York: Wiley-Interscience.Google Scholar
Rubin, P. E.Baer, T.Mermelstein, P. (1981). An articulatory synthesizer for perceptual research. JASA 70. 321328.Google Scholar
Saltzman, E. L. (forthcoming). Task dynamic coordination of the speech articulators: a preliminary model. Experimental Brain Research Supplementum.Google Scholar
Saltzman, E. L.Kelso, J. A. S. (1983). Skilled actions: a task dynamic approach. Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research SR-76. 350.Google Scholar
Sawashima, M.Hirose, H. (1983). Laryngeal gestures in speech production. In MacNeilage (1983). 1138.Google Scholar
Selkirk, E. O. (1980). The role of prosodic categories in English word stress. LI II. 563605.Google Scholar
Stelmach, G. E.Requin, J. (eds.) (1980). Tutorials in motor behavior. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Sussman, H. M.MacNeilage, P. F.Hanson, R. J. (1973). Labial and mandibular dynamics during the production of bilabial consonants: preliminary observations. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 16. 397420.Google Scholar
Tuller, B.Kelso, J. A. S. (1984). The timing of articulatory gestures: evidence for relational invariants. JASA 76. 10301036.Google Scholar
Tuller, B.Kelso, J. A. S.Harris, K. S. (1982). Interarticulator phasing as an index of temporal regularity in speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 8. 460472.Google Scholar
Turvey, M. T. (1977). Preliminaries to a theory of action with reference to vision. In Shaw, R.Bransford, J. (eds.) Perceiving, acting, and knowing. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 211265.Google Scholar
Vaissiere, J. (1981). Prediction of articulatory movement from phonetic input. JASA 70. S14.Google Scholar
Vatikiotis-Bateson, E. (1984). The temporal effects of homorganic medial nasal clusters. Research in Phonetics, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University 4. 197233.Google Scholar
Walsh, T.Parker, F. (1982). Consonant cluster abbreviation: an abstract analysis. JPh 10. 423437.Google Scholar
Weismer, G.Fennell, A. M. (1985). Constancy of (acoustic) relative timing measures in phrase-level utterances. JASA 78. 4957.Google Scholar
Westbury, J. R. (1983). Enlargement of the supraglottal cavity and its relation to stop consonant voicing. JASA 73. 13221326.Google Scholar
Yoshioka, H.Löfqvist, A.Hirose, H. (1981). Laryngeal adjustments in the production of consonant clusters and geminates in American English. JASA 70. 16151623.Google Scholar