Identifying Differing Articulation Times of Pre- Speech Initiation in Words with Differing Syntactic Structures

Abstract

Before a speaker has produced any sound but after they have planned their utterance, the articulators; the lips and the tongue; have already begun moving. The silent reaction of the articulators can help us in understanding the production of speech and the way in which words are formulated and eventually articulated. The following study aimed to identify if words with different structures would cause the articulators to have a difference in the duration of silent movement. A total of 6 participants were recorded for their articulatory results across 3 conditions: a bare condition, an article condition (/a/) and a prolonged article condition (/aaaaa/). A total of 4 words were used as prompts: Bit, Bat, Kit and Cat. The use of a /b/ and a/k/ was done to be able to measure the movements of the lips on the /b/ words and the tongue on the /k/ words. The results were recorded and analysed using articulation analysis software called Articulate Assistant Advanced (AAA). The software was used to annotate and measure the different time points on the complete articulation of the words in each of the different conditions. The results from this study indicate that there is a significant difference in the duration of silent articulation when there is an article present - the articulators move considerably earlier compared to the bare and prolonged condition. There was no significant difference between the bare and prolonged conditions. It was also notable that there was no significant difference between the durations of reactions of the tongue or the lips.