Four Dutch-English bilinguals were asked to imitate and to identify 64 isolated vowel stimuli. Imitation behavior turned out to be categorical to some degree, comprising vowel phonemes from both languages. A significant correlation was found between identification categories and imitation clusters. (Author/CFM)

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)

Determined how proficiently children identify gender of adults and children, based on whispered and phonated vowels. Compares performance with adult listeners. Both groups obtained simiiar average rates of accuracy when identifying gender based on preadolescent children's phonated vowels. Adults were more accurate when perceiving whispered vowels.…

Presents a "phonetological" approach for the improvement of the phonetic transcription of English, in order to account for certain distinctions in the language not currently rendered due to phonemic influence on phonetic transcription. (AM)

Research supported by the Joint Speech Research Unit. (DD)

Investigates the principles underlying the perception of vowel stimuli. The results support Chistovich's claim. When judging the distance between synthetic vowel stimuli, speakers refer to the phonemic structure of their native language. They determine the phonemes closest to the stimuli and then compare the phonemes and not the stimuli…

A pneumotachographic investigation of intervocalic /p/, /t/ and /k/ was undertaken to isolate physiological parameters responsible for coarticulatory air-flow phenomena. Airflow was most sensitive during the /k/ closure phase. The dynamics of the closure phase for each place of articulation and their implications for pneumotachography are…

This paper reports on experiments conducted to demonstrate that segmental duration in English is syntactically determined in a connected discourse. The methodology for investigation is outlined. Various factors influencing duration, such as semantics, syntax, rhythm, intonation and lexical stress are discussed. (Author/CLK)

Electromyographic experiments were performed indicating that durational differences between vowels that precede voiced consonants and those that precede voiceless ones are due to a sustention of muscular activity in articulation, which occurs only with vowels preceding voiced consonants. (SC)

Research supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. (DD)

This paper gives a complete account of vowel nasalization in Standard Polish. A distinction is made between obligatory and phonostylistic processes. Phonostylistic evidence may serve as a basis for making unambiguous decisions about the structure of underlying representations, intermediate phonological forms, and assimilation of borrowings to the…

A spectrographic investigation was carried out on the speech of normal hearing and deaf speakers; the research attempted to answer questions concerning formant transitions, coarticulation and neutralization of vowels in the speech of the deaf adults. (Author/RM)

This article describes a technique used to monitor the action of the upper front surface of the soft palate during normal speech in French. Results tend to confirm the findings of other instrumental phonetic research, and contradict some theoretical claims of French phonology. (CLK)

Establishes the relationship between linguistic stress and fundamental frequency and the intonation contours in short declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, and nonterminal clauses in Advanced Standard Copenhagen Danish. The work is based on acoustical analyses of recordings by four subjects. (Author/EJS)