Differentiating tongue shapes for alveolar-postalveolar and alveolar-velar contrasts

Zharkova, Natalia

doi:10.1016/j.specom.2019.08.004

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Figure 2 shows an example waveform and spectrogram of a token of /ʃ/ produced by one of the speakers, as well as an ultrasound image corresponding to the onset of the consonant. For quantifying articulatory differences between the two fricative consonants, the present study adopted the method developed in Zharkova (2019). That study identified combinations of articulatory measures as optimal for distinguishing between tongue shapes for /s/ and /ʃ/, and those combinations were used in the analyses for the present paper.…”

Section: Articulatory and Acoustic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Articulatory measurements should take this into account, in order to enable reliable comparisons across speakers, as well as comparisons across time points during a speech segment. In a recent study, Zharkova (2019) identified combinations of articulatory indices of tongue shape, which were more efficient in distinguishing between alveolar and postalveolar fricative tongue shapes than any one index on its own, producing robust results when the length of the tongue curve was manipulated, to simulate possible variation in real life. Such combinations can be used to reduce the sensitivity of individual indices to the variation in the imaged curve lengths, which is likely to be present in young children's tongue movement data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such combinations can be used to reduce the sensitivity of individual indices to the variation in the imaged curve lengths, which is likely to be present in young children's tongue movement data. The current study used the combinations of indices from Zharkova (2019), and a detailed description is provided in the Method section below.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of the voiceless sibilant fricative contrast in three-year-olds: an ultrasound and acoustic study

Zharkova

2020

J. Child Lang.

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The study analysed spectral and tongue shape dynamics of voiceless alveolar and postalveolar fricatives produced by ten children learning Scottish English. Synchronised ultrasound tongue imaging data and acoustic data were used to characterise children's productions of the phonemic contrast. Six children had consistently accurate productions of both fricative targets, with some cross-consonant phonetic differences in the direction previously demonstrated for older children and adults, as well as some immature acoustic and articulatory dynamic patterns. Instrumental analyses made it possible to describe tongue shape for phonemic errors and phonetically distorted realisations. There was some evidence of articulatory contrast in production preceding contrast in perception. The observed patterns can be explained by the complex articulatory demands on the fricative production, in combination with the developing control of articulators. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the results for phonological theory and for speech therapy practice.

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Section: Articulatory and Acoustic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of the voiceless sibilant fricative contrast in three-year-olds: an ultrasound and acoustic study

Zharkova

2020

J. Child Lang.

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“…The largest study of children of which we are aware analyzes the consonant production of four Farsi-speaking children. Baghban et al (2020) found that DEI and another measure, the Tongue Constraint Position Index (Zharkova, 2019), both successfully distinguished the children's /k/ from /t/. However, this again does not easily provide us with norms with which to compare children with SSDs.…”

Section: Uti Studies Of the Alveolar-velar Contrastmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Higher DEI values indicate more dorsum excursion, and therefore, we expect a typical /k/ articulation to have a higher DEI than a typical /t/. There are no studies using this measure on sizable numbers of TD children, but it is possible to extrapolate from Zharkova (2019), which presents data from six typical adults. This study shows that DEI reliably distinguishes /k/ and /t/ in an open vowel context, for example, /a_a/.…”

Section: Uti Studies Of the Alveolar-velar Contrastmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dorsal Differentiation of Velar From Alveolar Stops in Typically Developing Children and Children With Persistent Velar Fronting

Cleland

Scobbie

2021

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose This study has two key aims: first, to provide developmental articulatory norms for the alveolar–velar distinction in 30 English-speaking typically developing (TD) children; second, to illustrate the utility of the reported measures for classifying and quantifying the speech of children with a history of persistent velar fronting as they develop the contrast longitudinally. Method This study involved secondary data analysis of the UltraSuite corpus comprising ultrasound tongue imaging recordings of speech materials from 30 typical children and longitudinal data from five children with persistent velar fronting undergoing ultrasound visual biofeedback intervention. We present two new measures of coronal dorsal differentiation: KTMax and KT crescent area. These measures distinguish /k/ and /t/ by quantifying the magnitude of this distinction in absolute spatial terms (mm of linear dorsal difference). For the typical children, we report these measures in corner vowel contexts. We then compare these to dorsal productions by the children with speech disorders, before, during, and after intervention. Results Both measures reliably distinguished /k/ and /t/ in TD children. There was an effect of vowel, with larger KTmax and KT crescent area in /a/ and /o/ vowel contexts than in an /i/ context. The children with persistent velar fronting showed KTmax values near zero before intervention, showing a complete merger between /k/ and /t/. During intervention, they showed variable KTmax values. Post intervention, they showed values within the range of typical children. Conclusions This study provides articulatory norms derived from ultrasound tongue imaging for the dorsal differentiation in alveolar and velar stops in TD children. By applying these norms to children with persistent velar fronting as they acquire this contrast, we see that /k/ is acquired in an articulatorily gradient manner.

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Exposure to Canadian French Cued Speech Improves Consonant Articulation in Children With Cochlear Implants: Acoustic and Articulatory Data

Machart,

Vilain,

Lœvenbruck

et al. 2024

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose: One of the strategies that can be used to support speech communication in deaf children is cued speech, a visual code in which manual gestures are used as additional phonological information to supplement the acoustic and labial speech information. Cued speech has been shown to improve speech perception and phonological skills. This exploratory study aims to assess whether and how cued speech reading proficiency may also have a beneficial effect on the acoustic and articulatory correlates of consonant production in children. Method: Eight children with cochlear implants (from 5 to 11 years of age) and with different receptive proficiency in Canadian French Cued Speech (three children with low receptive proficiency vs. five children with high receptive proficiency) are compared to 10 children with typical hearing (from 4 to 11 years of age) on their production of stop and fricative consonants. Articulation was assessed with ultrasound measurements. Results: The preliminary results reveal that cued speech proficiency seems to sustain the development of speech production in children with cochlear implants and to improve their articulatory gestures, particularly for the place contrast in stops as well as fricatives. Conclusion: This work highlights the importance of studying objective data and comparing acoustic and articulatory measurements to better characterize speech production in children.

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Differentiating tongue shapes for alveolar-postalveolar and alveolar-velar contrasts

Cited by 6 publications

References 36 publications

Development of the voiceless sibilant fricative contrast in three-year-olds: an ultrasound and acoustic study

Development of the voiceless sibilant fricative contrast in three-year-olds: an ultrasound and acoustic study

The Dorsal Differentiation of Velar From Alveolar Stops in Typically Developing Children and Children With Persistent Velar Fronting

Exposure to Canadian French Cued Speech Improves Consonant Articulation in Children With Cochlear Implants: Acoustic and Articulatory Data

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