Interarticulator Programming in Obstruent Production

Abstract

Most work on speech motor control has been devoted to the spatial and temporal coordination of articulatory movements for successive units, segments or syllables, in the speech chain. An intrasegmental temporal domain has generally been lacking in speech production models, but such a domain is necessary at least for certain classes of speech sounds, e.g., voiceless obstruents, clicks, ejectives. The present paper examines the nature of laryngeal-oral coordination in voiceless obstruent production in different languages using the combined techniques of electromyography, transillumination and fiberoptic filming of the larynx together with aerodynamic and palatographic records for information on supralaryngeal articulations. The results suggest that laryngeal articulatory movements are organized in one or more continuous opening and closing gestures that are precisely coordinated with supralaryngeal events according to the aerodynamic requirements of speech production.