Home Articulatory correlates of metrical structure: Studying jaw displacement patterns
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Articulatory correlates of metrical structure: Studying jaw displacement patterns

  • Donna Erickson EMAIL logo and Shigeto Kawahara
Published/Copyright: January 30, 2016

Abstract

Previous phonetic studies of metrical prominence have primarily focused on its acoustic manifestations, including pitch, intensity, duration, spectral tilt, etc. In this paper we outline our new research program in which we explore jaw displacement patterns as another articulatory reflex of metrical prominence. We present our studies of English and Japanese in some detail, which show that jaw movement patterns are neither flat nor random, but instead the degrees of jaw displacement correlate well with metrical prominence. Based on these results, we argue that there are at least two articulators to express metrical prominence: the larynx and the jaw. Our aim is not so much to object to looking at the acoustic manifestations of metrical structures or other articulation-based approaches; we instead would like to encourage other researchers to investigate metrical structure in terms of jaw movement as well.

Funding statement: Funding: This work is supported by JSPS, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research #22520412 and #25370444 to the first author and JSPS grants #26770147 and #26284059 to the second author.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Jason Shaw and an anonymous reviewer, as well as the members of Keio phonetics-phonology study group, especially Yukio Sugiyama, for extensive comments on previous versions of this paper, Christophe Savariaux for help with the French EMA data and Atsuo Suemitsu, a collaborator of many projects summarized in the paper.

References

Barnes, J. 2006. Strength and weakness at the interface: Positional neutralization in phonetics and phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Beckman, M. E. 1986. Stress and non-stress accent. Dordrecht: Foris10.1515/9783110874020Search in Google Scholar

Beckman, M. E. & J. Edwards 1994. Articulatory evidence for differentiating stress categories. In P. Keating (ed.), Papers in laboratory phonology III, 7–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511659461.002Search in Google Scholar

Bennett, R. 2012. Foot-conditioned phonotactics and prosodic constituency. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz.Search in Google Scholar

Byrd, D. & E. Saltzman. 2003. The elastic phrase: Modeling the dynamics of boundary-adjacent lengthening. Journal of Phonetics 31.149–180.10.1016/S0095-4470(02)00085-2Search in Google Scholar

Byrd, D., J. Krivokapic & S. Lee. 2006. How far, how long: On the temporal scope of phrase boundary effects. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 120: 1589–1599.10.1121/1.2217135Search in Google Scholar

Cho, T. 2006. Manifestations of prosodic structure in articulatory variation: Evidence from lip kinematics in English. In L. M. Goldstein, D. H. Whalen & C. T. Best (eds.), Laboratory Phonology 8, 519–548. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Cho, T., J. McQueen & E. Cox. 2007. Prosodically driven phonetic detail in speech processing: The case of domain-initial strengthening in English. Journal of Phonetics 35. 210–243.10.1016/j.wocn.2006.03.003Search in Google Scholar

de Jong, K. 1995. The supraglottal articulation of prominence in English: linguistic stress as localized hyperarticulation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 97. 491–504.10.1121/1.412275Search in Google Scholar

Eady, S. J., W. Cooper, G. V. Klouda, P. R. Mueller & D. W. Lotts. 1986. Acoustical characteristics of sentential focus: Narrow vs. broad focus and single vs. dual focus environments. Language and Speech 29. 233–251.10.1177/002383098602900304Search in Google Scholar

Edwards, J., M. E. Beckman & J. Fletcher 1991. The articulatory kinematics of final lengthening. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 89. 369–382.10.1121/1.400674Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 1998. Effects of contrastive emphasis on jaw opening. Phonetica 55. 147–169.10.1159/000028429Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2002. Articulation of extreme formant patterns for emphasized vowels. Phonetica 59. 134–149.10.1159/000066067Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2003a. The jaw as a prominence articulator in American English. Acoustical Society of Japan Fall Meeting, 311–312.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2003b Some effects of prosody on articulation in American English. In T. Honma, M. Okazaki, T. Tabata, S. Tanaka (eds.), A new century of phonology and phonological theory, A festschrift for Prof. Haraguchi, 473–491. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2004a. On phrasal organization and jaw opening. Proceedings From Sound to Sense, In Honor of Ken Stevens June 13, MIT. 24, CD-ROM publication.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2004b. Metrical structure and jaw opening. The 18th International Congress on Acoustics, Kyoto (SP02). #0049.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2010a. An articulatory account of rhythm, prominence and phrasal organization. Proceedings of Speech Prosody, Chicago. #2006.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. 2010b. More about jaw, rhythm and metrical structure. Acoustical Society of Japan Fall Meeting, 103.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. & O. Fujimura. 1992. Acoustic and articulatory correlates of contrastive emphasis in repeated corrections. Proceedings of the International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, 835–837.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. & O. Fujimura. 1996. Maximum jaw displacement in contrastive emphasis. Proceedings of the International Conference of Spoken Language Processing, 141–144.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., O. Fujimura & J. Dang. 1999. Articulatory and acoustic characteristics of emphasized and unemphasized vowels. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 106. 2241 (A).10.1121/1.427636Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D, M. Hashi, & K. Maekawa. 2000. Articulatory and acoustic correlates of prosodic contrasts: A comparative study of vowels in Japanese and English. Journal of the Acoustic Society of Japan 56. 265–266.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D. & K. Honda. 1996. Jaw displacement and F0 in contrastive emphasis. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 99. 2494 (A).10.1121/1.415637Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., S. Kawahara, Y. Shibuya, A. Suemitsu, & M. Tiede. 2014a. Comparison of jaw displacement patterns of Japanese and American speakers of English: A preliminary report. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 18. 88–94.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., S. Kawahara, J. C. Williams, J. Moore, A. Suemitsu, A. & Y. Shibuya. 2014b. Metrical structure and jaw displacement: An exploration. Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2014: 300–303.10.21437/SpeechProsody.2014-48Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., S. Kawahara, I. Wilson, C. Menezes, A. Suemitsu, Y. Shibuya, & J. Moore. 2014c. Jaw displacement patterns as articulatory correlates of metrical structure. Talk presented at Phonetic Building Blocks of Speech, in Honor of John Esling, Sept. 18–21.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., K. Lenzo & O. Fujimura. 1994. Manifestations of contrastive emphasis in jaw movement. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 95. 2822 (A).10.1121/1.409686Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., A. Suemitsu, Y. Shibuya & M. Tiede. 2012. Metrical structure and production of English rhythm. Phonetica 69. 180–190.10.1159/000342417Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., & C. Smith. in preparation. Jaw displacement and French metrical structure.Search in Google Scholar

Erickson, D., J. Villegas, I. Wilson, & Y. Iguro. 2015. Spanish articulatory rhythm. Acoustical Society of Japan Fall Meeting. 319–322.Search in Google Scholar

Eriksson, Anders. 2009. A typology for word stress and speech rhythm based on acoustic and perceptual considerations. Research Project: http://flov.gu.se/english/research/projects/typology.Search in Google Scholar

Fougeron, C., & P. Keating. 1997. Articulatory strengthening at edges of prosodic domains. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 101. 3728–3740.10.1121/1.418332Search in Google Scholar

Fujimura, O. 2003. Stress and tone revisited: Skeletal vs. melodic and lexical vs. phrasal. In S. Kaji (ed.), Cross-linguistic studies of tonal phenomena: Historical development, phonetics of tone, and descriptive studies, 221–236. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.Search in Google Scholar

Féry, C. 2013. Focus as prosodic alignment. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 31. 683–734.10.1007/s11049-013-9195-7Search in Google Scholar

Fry, D. B. 1955. Duration and intensity as physical correlates of linguistic stress. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 27. 1765–1768.10.1121/1.1908022Search in Google Scholar

Harrington, J., J. Fletcher, M.E. Beckman. 2000. Manner and place conflicts in the articulation of accent in Australian English. In M. Broe, J. Pierrehumbert (eds.), Papers in laboratory phonology V, 40–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hayes, B., 1995. Metrical stress theory. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hualde, José. 2010. Secondary stress and stress clash in Spanish. In Marta Ortega-Llebaria (ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology, 11–19. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Search in Google Scholar

Ito, J. & A. Mester. 2015. Word formation and phonological processes. In Haruo Kubozono (ed.), The handbook of Japanese phonetics and phonology, 363–395. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9781614511984.363Search in Google Scholar

Iwata, R., D. Erickson, Y. Shibuya, A. Suemitsu. 2015. Articulation of phrasal stress in Mandarin Chinese. Acoustical Society of Japan Fall Meeting, 207–210.Search in Google Scholar

Jun, S.-A. 2005. Prosodic typology. In S.-A. Jun (ed.) Prosodic typology: The phonology of intonation and phrasing, 430–458. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249633.003.0016Search in Google Scholar

Jun, S.-A. 2014. Prosodic typology: By prominence type, word prosody, and macro-rhythm. In S.-A. Jun (ed.) Prosodic typology II: The phonology of intonation and phrasing, 520–539 Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567300.003.0017Search in Google Scholar

Jun, S.-A & C. Fougeron. 2002. The realizations of the Accentual Phrase in French intonation. Probus 14: 147–172.10.1515/prbs.2002.002Search in Google Scholar

Kawahara, S. 2015. The phonology of Japanese accent. In Haruo Kubozono (ed.), The handbook of Japanese phonetics and phonology, 445–492. Mouton: Berlin.10.1515/9781614511984.445Search in Google Scholar

Kawahara, S., D. Erickson, J. Moore, A.Suemitsu & Y. Shibuya. 2014. Jaw displacement and metrical structure in Japanese: The effect of pitch accent, foot structure, and phrasal stress. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 18. 77–87.Search in Google Scholar

Kawahara, S., D. Erickson, & A. Suemitsu. 2015. Edge prominence and declination in Japanese jaw displacement patterns: A view from the C/D model. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 19. 33–43.Search in Google Scholar

Kawahara, S. & T. Shinya. 2008. The intonation of gapping and coordination in Japanese: Evidence for intonational phrase and utterance. Phonetica 65. 62–105.10.1159/000130016Search in Google Scholar

Keating, P. A., B. Lindblom, J. Lubker & J. Kreiman. 1994. Variability in jaw height for segments in English and Swedish VCVs. Journal of Phonetics 22. 407–422.10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30293-1Search in Google Scholar

Kent, R. D. & R. Netsell. 1971. Effects of stress contrasts on certain articulatory parameters. Phonetica 24. 23–44.10.1159/000259350Search in Google Scholar

Ladd, D. R. 2008. Intonational phonology, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511808814Search in Google Scholar

Liberman, M. & A. Prince. 1977. On stress and linguistic rhythm. Linguistic Inquiry 8. 249–336.Search in Google Scholar

Loevenbruck, H. 1999. An investigation of articulatory correlates of the accentual phrase in French. Proceedings of 14th International Congress of Phonetic Science: 667–670.Search in Google Scholar

Macchi, M. 1985. Segmental and suprasegmental features and lip and jaw articulations. Doctoral dissertation, New York University.Search in Google Scholar

Macchi, M. 1988. Labial articulation patterns associated with segmental features and syllable structure in English. Phonetica 45. 109–121.10.1159/000261821Search in Google Scholar

Maekawa, K., S. Kiritani, H. Imagawa & K. Honda. 1998. Effects of focus on mandible movement. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 54. 259–260.Search in Google Scholar

Menezes, C. 2003. Rhythmic pattern of American English: An articulatory & acoustic study. Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University.Search in Google Scholar

Menezes, C. 2004. Changes in phrasing in semi-spontaneous emotional speech: Articulatory evidences. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 8: 45–59.Search in Google Scholar

Menezes, C. 2015. Comparing the metrical structure of a digit sequence in American English: Articulatory vs. acoustic analysis. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 19. 70–77.Search in Google Scholar

Menezes, C. & D. Erickson. 2013. Intrinsic variations in jaw deviation in English vowels. Proceedings of International Congress of Acoustics, POMA (19). #060253.Search in Google Scholar

Menezes, C., B. Pardo, D. Erickson & O. Fujimura. 2003. Changes in syllable magnitude and timing due to repeated correction. Speech Communication 40. 71–85.10.1016/S0167-6393(02)00076-6Search in Google Scholar

Oshimat, K.& V. L. Gracco. 1992. Mandibular contributions to speech production. Proceedings of International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, Banff. i92_0775.Search in Google Scholar

Perkell, J. 1969. Physiology of speech production. Cambridge: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Pierrehumbert, J. B. & M. E. Beckman. 1988. Japanese tone structure. Cambridge: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Plag, I., G. Kunter & M. Schramm 2011. Acoustic correlates of primary and secondary stress in North American English. Journal of Phonetics 39. 362–374.10.1016/j.wocn.2011.03.004Search in Google Scholar

Poser, W. J. 1984. The phonetics and phonology of tone and intonation in Japanese. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.Search in Google Scholar

Prince, A. 1983. Relating to the grid. Linguistic Inquiry 14. 19–100.Search in Google Scholar

Selkirk, E. 1980a. Prosodic domains in phonology: Sanskrit revisited. In M. Aronoff & M.Kean (eds.), Juncture, 107–129. Saratoga, CA: Anma Libri.Search in Google Scholar

Selkirk, E. 1980b. The role of prosodic categories in English word stress. Linguistic Inquiry 11. 563–605.Search in Google Scholar

Selkirk, E. 1984. Phonology and syntax: The relation between sound and structure. Cambridge: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Selkirk, E. & J. Katz. 2011. Contrastive focus vs. discourse-new: Evidence from phonetic prominence in English. Language 87: 771–816.10.1353/lan.2011.0076Search in Google Scholar

Shaw, J. 2007. /ti/∼/tʃi/ contrast preservation in Japanese loans is parasitic on segmental to prosodic structure. Proceedings of the 16th ICPhS: 1365–1368.Search in Google Scholar

Stevens, K. 1998. Acoustic phonetics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Stone, M. 1981. Evidence for a rhythm pattern in speech production: Observations of jaw movement. Journal of Phonetics 9. 109–120.10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30922-2Search in Google Scholar

Tilsen, S. 2009. Multitimescale dynamical interactions between speech rhythm and gesture. Cognitive Science 33. 839–879.10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01037.xSearch in Google Scholar

Summers, W. V. 1987. Effects of stress and final consonant voicing on vowel production: articulatory and acoustic analyses. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 82. 847–863.10.1121/1.395284Search in Google Scholar

Vaysman, O. 2009. Segmental alternations and metrical theory. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.Search in Google Scholar

Westbury, J. & O. Fujimura. 1989. An articulatory characterization of contrastive emphasis. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 85. S98.10.1121/1.2027241Search in Google Scholar

Wilhelms-Tricarico, R. 2015. Text to speech synthesis using syllables as functional units of speech. Journal of Phonetic Society of Japan 19. 86–99Search in Google Scholar

Williams, J. C., D. Erickson, Y. Ozaki, A. Suemitsu, N. Minematsu & O. Fujimura. 2013. Neutralizing differences in jaw displacement for English vowels, Proceedings of International Congress of Acoustics, POMA (19). #060268.Search in Google Scholar

Wilson, I., D. Erickson, & N. Horiguchi. 2012. Articulating rhythm in L1 and L2 English: Focus on jaw and F0. Acoustical Society of Japan Fall Meeting, 319–322.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2015-10-16
Accepted: 2015-12-20
Published Online: 2016-1-30
Published in Print: 2016-12-1

© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 28.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/lingvan-2015-0025/html
Scroll to top button