Normal adult speakers' tongue palate contact patterns for alveolar oral and nasal stops
Citation
Gibbon, F.E., Yuen, I., Lee, A. and Adams, L. (2007) ‘Normal adult speakers’ tongue palate contact patterns for alveolar oral and nasal stops’, Advances in Speech Language Pathology, 9(1), pp. 82–89. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14417040600954824.
Abstract
This study compared tongue palate contact patterns for oral stops (/t/, /d/) with those for the nasal stop /n/ in order to provide normative data for diagnosing and treating individuals with speech disorders. Electropalatographic (EPG) data were recorded from 15 English speaking adults for word initial /t/, /d/ and /n/ in a high and a low vowel context. EPG frames were classified according to three criteria: (1) anterior constriction; (2) bilateral constriction; and (3) zero posterior central contact. Total amount of contact and variability were also measured. The results showed that almost all (99%) stops met Criteria 1 and 3, with fewer articulations (88% of /t/; 83% of /d/ and 55% of /n/) meeting Criterion 2. Although all stops had similar spatial patterns, /t/ and /d/ had more contact and were more likely to have bilateral constriction than /n/. There were no differences in variability between /t/, /d/ and /n/, however. The clinical implications of the results for the management of individuals with speech disorders are discussed.