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Abstract:
The goal of this paper is to provide some evidence for the
presence of general patterns of area-function change during
dynamic speech production. Specifically, the pivot pattern and
the arching pattern will be illustrated. In the pivot pattern,
the area-function is stationary at one location in the vocal
tract, but changes at other locations, with maximal changes
occurring at the places of articulation of the initial and final
segments of the transition. The related pattern of
tongue-movement has been previously pointed out (Stone
1991,1992a, 1992b). This pattern is most often seen when the
transition involves a change in the frontness-backness dimension.
In the arching pattern, the area-function is nearly stationary
throughout the vocal tract, but changes at one broad location.
This occurs most commonly when the transition involves a change
in the height dimension. Change in area-function is therefore
localized, in both of these patterns, at the places of
articulation of the beginning and ending segments of the
transition. This localization of area-function change allows
dynamic formant patterns to be interpreted to directly signal
changes at the initial and final places of articulation
throughout the formant pattern. So that at each moment of a
changing formant pattern, maximal information is being conveyed
about the initial and final segments in the transition.
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