The quantification of place of articulation assimilation in electropalatographic data using the similarity index (SI)

The present study is concerned with an electropalatographic (EPG) and acoustic analysis of coarticulatory influences in fricative consonant clusters that span a word boundary. We aimed to test whether, as has been found for other languages and consonant-classes, final consonants are more prone to coarticulatory influences than initial ones, and also whether there is any evidence for a relationship between a consonant's susceptibility to coarticulation and the extent to which it exerts a coarticulatory influence on flanking consonants. We developed an algorithm, the similarity index (SI), which quantifies coarticulation in EPG data by measuring the extent of deviation of consonants in heterorganic clusters from their homorganic counterparts. This algorithm was applied to EPG data recorded from three native speakers of Polish producing word-pairs in a carrier sentence such that word-final and word-initial fricatives occurred across a word-boundary for all 16 possible combinations of the four fricatives []. The same data were analysed acoustically using Bark-scaled cepstral coefficients. The results showed that word-final consonants were more susceptible to coarticulatory influences than were initial ones; and there was some evidence that the alveolopalatal fricative [] was most resistant to coarticulation, and exerted the greatest coarticulatory influences.     

Temporal and spatial aspects concerning the realizations of the voicing contrast in German alveolar and postalveolar fricatives

This study investigates the phonetic realizations of voicing contrast in alveolar and postalveolar fricatives production in different word positions in order to understand the temporal and spatial production strategies used in the control of voicing and frication, and to provide a frame of reference for speech therapy despite the inter-speaker variation. Seven native speakers of German, originally coming from various regions, participated in the experiment. Acoustic signals were recorded onto DAT, and tongue palate contact patterns were recorded by means of electropalatography (EPG). The temporal parameters were measured using the acoustic signals and the spatial parameters were measured based on the EPG data. The corpus included real words with // occurring at word initial, medial and final positions. Temporal results showed that differences in the overall frication duration for voicing contrast occur at almost all positions (with longer duration for voiceless phonemes). However, voicing during the frication interval was a less reliable discriminator, particularly for Southern German speakers and at word final position. We found a positive correlation between the relative voicing duration and the amount of tongue palate contact for subjects who produced voicing. Especially for the postalveolars, voicing also coincides with more front articulation. Results are discussed with respect to laryngeal-oral co-ordination and aerodynamics.     

The input processing,cognitive linguistic and oro-motor skills of children with speech difficulty

Children with speech difficulty of no known etiology are a heterogeneous group. While speech errors are often attributed to auditory processing or oro-motor skill, an alternative proposal is a cognitive-linguistic processing difficulty. Research studies most often focus on only one of these aspects of the speech processing chain. This study investigated abilities in all three domains in children with speech difficulty (n = 78) and matched controls (n = 87). It was hypothesized that groups of children with speech difficulty would perform less well than controls on all tasks, but that the proportion of children with speech difficulty performing within the normal range would differ across tasks. The input processing task required children to perceive the auditory-visual illusion in speech perception, where listeners perceive when they hear presented in synchrony with the lip movements for . Diadochokinetic, isolated and sequenced movements tasks assessed oro-motor skills. Two non-verbal tasks evaluated rule derivation. The results indicated that rule derivation best discriminated typically developing and speech difficulty groups. Few children were identified as having an input or output difficulty, whereas difficulties with rule-derivation were common. The data support the notion that speech difficulty is, most often, associated with a central processing difficulty.     

Vowel features in Turkish accented English

The present study quantified the amount of accent in English vowels produced by native adult Turkish speakers. Vowels that are present in both Turkish and English (close vowels) were compared with those that are present only in English (distant vowels). The first two formant frequencies (F1 and F2) were obtained from the 11 English monophthong vowels (/i, i, e, ε, æ, Λ, u, , o, , /) produced by 20 Turkish-accented English (TE) (10 males and 10 females) bilinguals and 20 native American English (AE) speakers. Euclidean distance (ED) was used to measure the separation between the corresponding TE and AE vowels. Perceptual experiment was also carried out to assess the amount of accent in the English produced by Turkish speakers as perceived by native monolingual English speakers. F1 and F2 values revealed that TE speakers generally were able to produce close and distant vowels comparably, with considerable amount of deviation from AE speakers. ED values for close and distant vowels were not significantly different. The amount of perceived accent indicated the precision of vowel production and was found to directly correlate with the acoustic findings.     

The effect of phonotactic constraints in German-speaking children with delayed phonological acquisition: Evidence from production of word-initial consonant clusters

In this study the effect of phonotactic constraints concerning word-initial consonant clusters in children with delayed phonological acquisition was explored. Twelve German-speaking children took part (mean age 5;1). The spontaneous speech of all children was characterized by the regular appearance of the error patterns fronting, e.g., Kuh“cow” /ku:/ →[tu:], or stopping, e.g., Schaf“sheep” /a:f/ →[ta:f], which were inappropriate for their chronological age. The children were asked to produce words (picture naming task, word repetition task) with initial consonant clusters, in which the application of the error patterns would violate phonotactic sequence constraints. For instance, if fronting would apply in /kl-/, e.g., Kleid“dress”, it would be realized as the phontactically illegal consonant cluster /tl-/. The results indicate that phonotactic constraints affect word production in children with delayed phonological developments. Surprisingly, we found that children with fronting produced the critical consonants correctly significantly more often in word-initial consonant clusters than in words in which they appeared as singleton onsets. In addition, the results provide evidence for a similar developmental trajectory of acquisition in children with typical development and in children with delayed phonological acquisition.     

Residual /s/ and /r/ distortions: The perspective of the speaker

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of residual distortions from the perspective of the speaker. Eighty adult speakers of Brazilian Portuguese with a distortion of the alveolar fricative /s/, the alveolar tap , or both, completed a questionnaire that documented their therapy history, awareness of the speech distortion, and perceived impact of the disorder. Only a small number of the participants reported that they received negative reactions to their speech and only a minority were of the opinion that their speech interfered with work or social life. Yet a considerable number were of the opinion that their speech was different from that of other people and felt insecure in speech situations. The results suggest that there is a high tolerance toward minor speech errors in present day society that may be related to the fact that such disorders are not at all rare.     

A progressive consonant-substitution pattern in a typically developing child

The purpose of this paper was to describe and explain an unusual consonant substitution (default) pattern in the early lexical repertoire of a typically developing boy. Ben was audiotape recorded monthly from age 2;2–2;8 (years; months), to follow an unusual substitution pattern, initially observed between 1;6 and 1;7 (diary notations). Data from each recording period were analysed with reference to (a) consonant repertoire, and (b) default and non-default features present. Data are presented for three periods of [l] substitution: initially, for a glide /w/ (age 1;6–1;7), next, as a substitution for word-initial fricatives /s/, /z/ and // (age 2;2–2;3), and finally, in place of /r/ in consonant + /r/ clusters, in place of /j/ in initial position, and as a between-word liaison (age 2;7–2;8). It is shown that preferences for specific features, consonant vowel interactions, and syllable positions may be implicated in motivating this [l] substitution at specific points over time. The observed pattern is explained with reference to universal and child-specific factors and adds further evidence for variability that exists among typically developing children.     

Understanding and overcoming the effects of compassion fatigue within the veterinary profession

Veterinary professionals have to constantly deliver a compassionate and sympathetic service to clients and the pets we treat. However, daily stress and lack of support in the working environment can cause the manifestation of a number of physical and psychological symptoms. Collectively, these symptoms are referred to as compassion fatigue. This can negatively impact the quality of care delivered by RVNs and could be responsible for nurses leaving the profession. A more self-nurturing and sympathetic approach must be adopted by veterinary nurses and managerial staff to reduce the impact of compassion fatigue in practice.