Articulatory phonology
Encyclopedia
Articulatory phonology http://www.haskins.yale.edu/research/gestural.htmlhttp://www.essex.ac.uk/speech/pubs/presents/ioa-96/mt-post.html is a linguistic
theory originally proposed in 1986 by Catherine Browman
http://www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/browman.html of Haskins Laboratories
and Louis M. Goldstein
http://www.yale.edu/linguist/faculty/louis.html of Yale University
and Haskins. The theory identifies theoretical discrepancies between phonetics
and phonology
and aims to unify the two by treating them as low and high dimensional descriptions of a single system.
Unification can be achieved by incorporating into a single model the idea that the physical system (identified with phonetics) constrains the underlying abstract system (identified with phonology), making the units of control at the abstract planning level the same as those at the physical level.
The plan of an utterance is formatted as a gestural score, which provides the input to a physically based model of speech production - the task dynamic model of Elliot Saltzman
http://www.bu.edu/sargent/about/faculty/physical-therapy/saltzman/http://www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/saltzman.html. The gestural score graphs locations within the vocal tract
where constriction can occur, indicating the planned or target degree of constriction. A computational model of speech production developed at Haskins Laboratories
combines articulatory phonology, task dynamics, and the Haskins articulatory synthesis
system developed by Philip Rubin
and colleagues.
In articulatory phonology, the basic units of phonological contrast are gestures, which are also abstract characterizations of articulatory events, each with an intrinsic time or duration. Utterances are modeled as organized patterns (constellations) of gestures, in which gestural units may overlap in time. The phonological structures defined in this way provide a set of articulatorily based natural classes. Moreover, the patterns of overlapping organization can be used to specify important aspects of the phonological structure of particular languages, and to account, in a coherent and general way, for a variety of different types of phonological variation. Such variation includes allophonic
variation and fluent speech alternations, as well as 'coarticulation
' and speech errors. Browman and Goldstein have suggested that the gestural approach clarifies our understanding of phonological development, by positing that prelinguistic units of action are harnessed into (gestural) phonological structures through differentiation and coordination.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
theory originally proposed in 1986 by Catherine Browman
Catherine Browman
Catherine P. Browman is an American linguist and speech scientist. She was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey and Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut, from which she retired due to illness. While at Bell Laboratories, she was known for her work on speech synthesis...
http://www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/browman.html of Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories is an independent, international, multidisciplinary community of researchers conducting basic research on spoken and written language. Founded in 1935 and located in New Haven, Connecticut since 1970, Haskins Laboratories is a private, non-profit research institute with a...
and Louis M. Goldstein
Louis M. Goldstein
Louis M. Goldstein is an American linguist and cognitive scientist. He was previously a professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics and a professor of psychology at Yale University, and is now a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Southern California...
http://www.yale.edu/linguist/faculty/louis.html of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and Haskins. The theory identifies theoretical discrepancies between phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
and phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and aims to unify the two by treating them as low and high dimensional descriptions of a single system.
Unification can be achieved by incorporating into a single model the idea that the physical system (identified with phonetics) constrains the underlying abstract system (identified with phonology), making the units of control at the abstract planning level the same as those at the physical level.
The plan of an utterance is formatted as a gestural score, which provides the input to a physically based model of speech production - the task dynamic model of Elliot Saltzman
Elliot Saltzman
Elliot Saltzman is an American psychologist and speech scientist. He is a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Boston University and a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut. He is best known for his development, with J. A...
http://www.bu.edu/sargent/about/faculty/physical-therapy/saltzman/http://www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/saltzman.html. The gestural score graphs locations within the vocal tract
Vocal tract
The vocal tract is the cavity in human beings and in animals where sound that is produced at the sound source is filtered....
where constriction can occur, indicating the planned or target degree of constriction. A computational model of speech production developed at Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories is an independent, international, multidisciplinary community of researchers conducting basic research on spoken and written language. Founded in 1935 and located in New Haven, Connecticut since 1970, Haskins Laboratories is a private, non-profit research institute with a...
combines articulatory phonology, task dynamics, and the Haskins articulatory synthesis
Articulatory synthesis
Articulatory synthesis refers to computational techniques for synthesizing speech based on models of the human vocal tract and the articulation processes occurring there. The shape of the vocal tract can be controlled in a number of ways which usually involves modifying the position of the speech...
system developed by Philip Rubin
Philip Rubin
Philip E. Rubin is an American cognitive scientist and technologist who since 2003 has been the Chief Executive Officer and a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut...
and colleagues.
In articulatory phonology, the basic units of phonological contrast are gestures, which are also abstract characterizations of articulatory events, each with an intrinsic time or duration. Utterances are modeled as organized patterns (constellations) of gestures, in which gestural units may overlap in time. The phonological structures defined in this way provide a set of articulatorily based natural classes. Moreover, the patterns of overlapping organization can be used to specify important aspects of the phonological structure of particular languages, and to account, in a coherent and general way, for a variety of different types of phonological variation. Such variation includes allophonic
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
variation and fluent speech alternations, as well as 'coarticulation
Coarticulation
Coarticulation in its general sense refers to a situation in which a conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like, a preceding or following speech sound...
' and speech errors. Browman and Goldstein have suggested that the gestural approach clarifies our understanding of phonological development, by positing that prelinguistic units of action are harnessed into (gestural) phonological structures through differentiation and coordination.