Spectral and temporal measures of coarticulation in child speech

Abstract

Speech produced by children is characterized by a high fundamental frequency which complicates measurement of vocal tract resonances, and hence coarticulation. Here two whole-spectrum measures of coarticulation are validated, one temporal and one spectral, that are less sensitive to these challenges. Using these measures, consonant-vowel coarticulation is calculated in the speech of a large sample of 4-year-old children. The measurements replicate known lingual coarticulatory findings from the literature, demonstrating the utility of these acoustic measures of coarticulation in speakers of all ages.