Volume 40, Issue 4

Six 2-year-old French (Aix-en-Provence) children were tape-recorded as they identified 46 pictures with polysyllabic names (e.g., éléphant, tracteur). Approximately 200 utterances were then analyzed for fundamental frequency (Fo) contours over the word, peak intensity (I) differences between the last two syllables, and absolute and relative nuclear vowel durations (D) between the last two syllables. The principal findings were: (1) falling Fo contours outnumbered rising by about 2.5: 1; (2) rising Fo contours were somewhat narrower, on the average, than falling; (3) nearly half of the I contours were essentially level, and 84% involved differences of 6 dB or less; (4) the final vowel was, on the average, longer than the penultimate vowel by a ratio of about 1.6:1, or an absolute difference of about 70 ms; (5) Fo and I were moderately correlated, with wide rising and falling Fo being associated with wide rising and falling I contours, respectively; (6) there was a similar, though statistically weaker, relationship between Fo and D contours; and (7) there was essentially no statistical relationship between I and D contours. These findings show that French 2-year-olds are influenced by the prosodic shape of their parents’ language yet are also under the control of presumably universal speech production constraints.

An experiment was conducted to test the perceptual relevance of the cues used by Delattre for the synthesis of sonorants in French. For this purpose, stimuli with /j, w, 1, r/ in intervocalic position and in a symmetrical context /i, a, u/ were generated on a formant serial synthesizer. The results derived from identification and preference tests show that minor spectral and temporal modifications improve the auditory quality of the glides /j, w/. In contrast, Delattre’s rules do not lead to a satisfactory synthesis of /1, r/, and important parametric changes concerning acoustic targets, steady-state and transition durations, and overall amplitude should be considered.

Formant analysis of tense, high, German vowels was performed to the end of obtaining information about the role of insufficient lip rounding in distorted vowel production of 8 traumatic dysarthrics. A comparison was made between two allophones of /y/ in different consonantal contexts. Noticeable undershoot in lip rounding or protrusion proved to occur in a context of conflicting labial gestures. Where the articulatory realization of a CVC sequence required gross tongue movements, a lingual undershoot resulted as the prevailing deficit. No evidence for dyscoordinative defects was obtained from the results.

Up to now the concept of voice onset time (VOT) has been closely associated with the work of Lisker and Abramson. Evidence is presented here that the idea behind it – if not the name – is much older than commonly thought, in fact dating back to the turn of the century. The results of those early VOT measurements are presented and -with respect to Armenian – compared to those arrived at by Lisker and Abramson.