Control of larynx height in vowel production revisited: a real-time MRI study
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Philip Hoole
Abstract
Standard phonetic descriptions of vowels typically do not include larynx height. Yet, it is clear that considerable vertical movement can occur, with quite substantial acoustic consequences. Nonetheless, basic regularities in the patterning of larynx height for vowels are anything but clear. While it has been consistently found for the corner vowels /i, a, u/ that /u/ has the lowest position, there are conflicting results for the relative position of /a/ vs. /i/. Moreover, even if /u/ is consistently lower than /i/, it is not clear whether this is an effect of rounding or backing. To provide a firmer foundation for considering the numerous articulatory synergies in which larynx height may be involved, we used a real-time MRI corpus with an unusually large number of speakers (>30) for a language (German) that includes front rounded /y/. Results gave support for the idea of an inverse relationship between larynx height and vowel height (/a>e>i/; /o>u/) that has been proposed in the literature. However, the vowel height effect was clearly weaker than the effect of rounding: /u/ showed a very low position, as expected; importantly, /y/ had similar height to /u/ (thus, much lower than /i/). Across speakers, there were substantial differences in the range of vowel-related larynx heights. This was not related to anatomical factors such as pharyngeal length. This underscores the overall conclusion that this MRI data can now be profitably used to consider whether and how speaker-specific larynx height patterns can be related to their preferred lingual, labial, or mandibular adjustments in realizing vowel contrasts.
Abstract
Standard phonetic descriptions of vowels typically do not include larynx height. Yet, it is clear that considerable vertical movement can occur, with quite substantial acoustic consequences. Nonetheless, basic regularities in the patterning of larynx height for vowels are anything but clear. While it has been consistently found for the corner vowels /i, a, u/ that /u/ has the lowest position, there are conflicting results for the relative position of /a/ vs. /i/. Moreover, even if /u/ is consistently lower than /i/, it is not clear whether this is an effect of rounding or backing. To provide a firmer foundation for considering the numerous articulatory synergies in which larynx height may be involved, we used a real-time MRI corpus with an unusually large number of speakers (>30) for a language (German) that includes front rounded /y/. Results gave support for the idea of an inverse relationship between larynx height and vowel height (/a>e>i/; /o>u/) that has been proposed in the literature. However, the vowel height effect was clearly weaker than the effect of rounding: /u/ showed a very low position, as expected; importantly, /y/ had similar height to /u/ (thus, much lower than /i/). Across speakers, there were substantial differences in the range of vowel-related larynx heights. This was not related to anatomical factors such as pharyngeal length. This underscores the overall conclusion that this MRI data can now be profitably used to consider whether and how speaker-specific larynx height patterns can be related to their preferred lingual, labial, or mandibular adjustments in realizing vowel contrasts.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- On the nature of speech dynamics: approaches to studying synchronic variation and diachronic change 1
-
Part 1: Empirical perspectives on diachronic change
- Fifty years of monophthong and diphthong shifts in Mainstream Australian English 17
- Coarticulation guides sound change: an acoustic-phonetic study of real-time change in word-initial /l/ over four decades of Glaswegian 49
- The impact of automated phonetic alignment and formant tracking workflows on sound change measurement 89
- One place, two speech communities: differing responses to sound change in Mainstream and Aboriginal Australian English in a small rural town 117
- Prosodic change in 100 years: the fall of the rise-fall in an Albanian variety 145
-
Part 2: Factors conditioning synchronic variation
- Control of larynx height in vowel production revisited: a real-time MRI study 175
- Sheila’s roses (are in the paddick): reduced vowels in Australian English 207
- The future of the queen: how to pronounce “König✶innen” ‘gender-neutrally’ in German 245
- Synchronic variation and diachronic change: mora-counting and syllable-counting dialects in Japanese 273
- Reconstructing the timeline of a consonantal change in a German dialect: evidence from agent-based modeling 307
-
Part 3: Theoretical approaches at the interface between synchronic variation and diachronic change
- On (mis)aligned innovative perception and production norms 343
- Phonological patterns and dependency relations may arise from aerodynamic factors 369
- Actuation without production bias 395
- Understanding the role of broadcast media in sound change 425
- Connecting prosody and duality of patterning in diachrony, typology, phylogeny, and ontogeny 453
- Index 483
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- On the nature of speech dynamics: approaches to studying synchronic variation and diachronic change 1
-
Part 1: Empirical perspectives on diachronic change
- Fifty years of monophthong and diphthong shifts in Mainstream Australian English 17
- Coarticulation guides sound change: an acoustic-phonetic study of real-time change in word-initial /l/ over four decades of Glaswegian 49
- The impact of automated phonetic alignment and formant tracking workflows on sound change measurement 89
- One place, two speech communities: differing responses to sound change in Mainstream and Aboriginal Australian English in a small rural town 117
- Prosodic change in 100 years: the fall of the rise-fall in an Albanian variety 145
-
Part 2: Factors conditioning synchronic variation
- Control of larynx height in vowel production revisited: a real-time MRI study 175
- Sheila’s roses (are in the paddick): reduced vowels in Australian English 207
- The future of the queen: how to pronounce “König✶innen” ‘gender-neutrally’ in German 245
- Synchronic variation and diachronic change: mora-counting and syllable-counting dialects in Japanese 273
- Reconstructing the timeline of a consonantal change in a German dialect: evidence from agent-based modeling 307
-
Part 3: Theoretical approaches at the interface between synchronic variation and diachronic change
- On (mis)aligned innovative perception and production norms 343
- Phonological patterns and dependency relations may arise from aerodynamic factors 369
- Actuation without production bias 395
- Understanding the role of broadcast media in sound change 425
- Connecting prosody and duality of patterning in diachrony, typology, phylogeny, and ontogeny 453
- Index 483
