Vocal Fold Adjustments in Aspirated and Unaspirated Stops in Danish

Abstract

Vocal fold adjustments in Danish aspirated and unaspirated stops were investigated by electromyography, photo-electric glottography, and fiberoptic stills. The results show that these two stop types are produced primarily by different types of glottal gesture, rather than by a different timing of the glottal and supraglottal articulations. Other, more general aspects of glottal behaviour in relation to aspiration and devoicing in stops are also discussed.

An Acoustic Study of Contrasting Plosives and Click Accompaniments in Xhosa

“…Roux [1990] and Lewis [1998] also found that closure duration is shorter in aspirated plosives than in the other plosive types. This result is comparable to the aspiration and closure durations presented by Hutters [1985] for Danish. Hutters [1985] points out that one way of creating the long aspiration durations characteristic of Danish compared to other languages is by decreasing closure duration.…”

“…This result is comparable to the aspiration and closure durations presented by Hutters [1985] for Danish. Hutters [1985] points out that one way of creating the long aspiration durations characteristic of Danish compared to other languages is by decreasing closure duration. Related proposals about negative correlations between closure and aspiration duration are made by Kohler [1984], Docherty [1992], and Maddieson [1997].…”

“…A similar situation as in Xhosa has been found for Danish [Hutters, 1985], where closure duration is longer in unaspirated (orthographic b, d, g) than aspirated plosives, too. (Notice that this pattern is not the rule; as shown, among others, by Davis and van Summers [1989] for English and Jessen [1998] for German, closure duration can be longer in p, t, k than in b, d, g or it can be about the same in both series.)…”

“…This study has revealed that the aspirated plosives and clicks of Xhosa can be produced with remarkably long VOT when analysed against the background of the VOT values of aspirated plosives that are reported for many other languages [see in particular Lisker and Abramson, 1964;Hutters, 1985;Cho and Ladefoged, 1999]. For example, 4 of the 8 subjects in this study produced both plosives and clicks with average VOTs longer than 100 ms (F-2, M-2, F-3, F-4).…”

Influence of Gender and Environmental Setting on Voice Onset Time

“…VOT is a reliable cue to distinguish between voiced and voiceless stops in English, as well as a number of other languages [3][4][5] . As an acoustic cue, VOT also serves as an inferential estimate of speech motor control, requiring fi ne motor coordination of the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory structures [6] .…”