Coordination between the tongue and lower lip in /w/ production in adult males speakers without speech disorders
Open Access
Author:
Pond, Alexa Laren
Area of Honors:
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Ji Min Lee, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Ingrid Maria Blood, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Tongue Lower Lip Coordination Timing
Abstract:
Acoustic characteristics of /w/ words have been reported to be sensitive to speech intelligibility in speakers with dysarthria. The current study investigates the uniqueness of the /w/ word production. To be specific, the current study was conducted to determine the coarticulatory pattern of the tongue body and lower lip in production of the semivowel /w/. In addition to /w/ words such as "whip", speakers produced /b/ words which have been assumed to have less protrusion of lower lip than /w/. Acoustic and kinematic data was collected from a group of 19 typical male speakers using 3 dimensional electromagnetic articulography. Speakers produced three tokens of each target word: "whip" and "bib". The findings revealed different patterns in both coordination timing as well as tongue and lip movement in "whip" and "bib" production. Interestingly, the amount of lip protrusion was not different between “whip” and “bib” but more tongue retraction was observed in “whip” than “bib”. "Whip" production showed a pattern of greater tongue movement, particularly, tongue advancement when compared to "bib". Further analyses suggested a more synchronous movement between the tongue and lower lip in "whip" production when compared to "bib". Results from the current study will serve as a norm reference for data collected in a future study on speakers with dysarthria.
