Tongue movements and syllable onset complexity: Ultrasound study
Citation
Kocjani, T. (2008) Tongue movements and syllable onset complexity:
Ultrasound study, Proceedings of ISCA Experimental Linguistics ExLing 2008 (Athens), pp. 125-128.
Abstract
In this study ultrasound was used to investigate tongue movements in syllables with
different number and type of onset consonants. Ultrasound recordings provided the
information of the distance the tongue travels over a target, and audio recordings of
the time needed. The speed of the tongue's travel was calculated from the two measurements.
Results of ten speakers have shown that both duration and distance travelled
increase with an increased number of onset segments, but that distance travelled
is additionally influenced by the type of the segment, as is speed. Duration also
seemed to be the least speaker-dependant of the three parameters.
Key words: tongue movement, ultrasound, syllable onset.