Purpose: Pitch variations (tone productions) have been reported as a measure to differentiate Cantonese-speaking children with and without childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This study aims to examine fundamental frequency (F0) changes within syllables and the effects of syllable structure, lexical status, and syllable positions on F0 in…

This dissertation presents a linguistic study of the sound patterns of Camuno framed within Evolutionary Phonology (Blevins, 2004, 2006, to appear). Camuno is a variety of Eastern Lombard, a Romance language of northern Italy, spoken in Valcamonica. Camuno is not a local variety of Italian, but a sister of Italian, a local divergent development of…

In this article, we discuss the relationship between instrumental and perceptual phonetic analyses. Using data drawn from typical and atypical speech production, we argue that the use of two-tier transcriptions, which can compare and contrast perceptual and instrumental information, is valuable both for our general understanding of the mechanisms…

A commonly made, but rarely defended, assumption is that phonetic reduction processes apply to hyperarticulated phonetic targets. Results from four experiments reported in this paper support this assumption. (43 references) (Author/LB)

Article traces the history of the research done on the problems of the vowel-r symbol. (ML)

A study of electromyographic (EMG) activity and palatal movement is reported. Motion pictures were taken of the nasal surface of the soft palate and EMG recordings from the levator palatini muscle were obtained. Both were analyzed for the relationship of velar height to EMG strength and time. (SC)

Discusses phonic shifting or sound shifts through an examination of Grimm's Law, or the Germanic Consonant Shift. The discussion includes comments on why the phonic shift developed and its pattern. (10 references) (GLR)

Reviews and comments on the major points made in Albert Gessman's paper, "Grimm's Law: Fact or Myth?" Through the evaluation of the paper's 13 points, several ideas are pointed out that are believed to be crucial to Gessman's arguments. (29 references) (GLR)

It has been hypothesized that lax vowels may be relatively unaffected by dysarthria, owing to the reduced vocal tract shapes required for these phonetic events (G. S. Turner, K. Tjaden, & G. Weismer, 1995). It also has been suggested that lax vowels may be especially susceptible to speech mode effects (M. A. Picheny, N. I. Durlach, & L. D. Braida,…

This article discusses the problems involved in the study of functional load. It is proposed that a study of the dynamism of language be based solely on words containing phonemes which have varying pronunciations among speakers. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Sentences were read by six informants to determine the presence or absence of /n/ in /nth/ sequences. The sentences contained seven different levels of juncture with /nth/ occurring in word final position, intervocalically, and across word boundaries, among other places. Dental coarticulation was not hindered by most junctures. (SC)

Presents the results of field research into the extinct Cacaopera language of El Salvador. Data from two Spanish-speaking informants are given in broad phonetic notation. (RM)

THE VALUE OF THE ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS OF A PHONETIC EVENT VARY FROM SPEAKER TO SPEAKER AND, TO SOME EXTENT, FROM DAY TO DAY. THE ABSENCE OF STABLE INVARIANTS IN SPEECH PRODUCTION IMPLIES THAT A COMPUTER MUST BE SELF-ADAPTIVE IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE THE PHONETIC EVENTS OF DIFFERENT SPEECH PRODUCTIONS. SELF-ADAPTATION, HOWEVER, REQUIRES THAT PHONEME…