Speech Production Process

4 Processes in Speech Production

 Respiration
 Phonation
 Resonance
 Articulation
Respiration: Power Mechanism
 Provides the energy for sound

 Breathing is an aerodynamic process

• a difference in air pressure is created between
the thoracic cavity and the atmospheric pressure
outside the body
2 Phases of Breathing
 Inhalation - muscles of the thoracic cavity
expand the chest; air pressure decreases and
air is taken in
• air pressure is less in thorax than in atmosphere
and air flows in
 Exhalation - when the pressure is greater in
thorax, air flows out
• there is a decrease in chest cavity and an
increase in air pressure
Breathing for Speech vs Breathing for Life

 Breathing for speech uses same muscles,

but is controlled more
• exhalation phase is longer than inhalation phase
for speech
 Breathing for life, inhalation and exhalation
phases are same
Phonation: Vibrating Mechanism
 Phonation is the rapid opening and closing
of the vocal folds for sound
 the vocal folds lie horizontally in the larynx
 they attach anteriorly to the thyroid
cartilage and posteriorly to the artynoid
cartilages; they are free in the middle
 the opening in the middle of the vocal folds
is the GLOTTIS
Phonation (con’t)
 adduction of the arytnoids closes the vocal
folds
 the middle of the vocal folds vibrate to and
from midline
 vibration of the vocal folds produces
voicing
 Position of vocal folds
• open (abducted)
• closed (adducted)
3 major aspects of voice influenced
by vocal fold movement
 Pitch - frequency of vibration
• the rate of vocal fold vibration is called the
FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY
• this is measured in terms of Hz or cps
• therefore, if the vocal folds vibrate 200 cps it is
a fundamental frequency of 200Hz
• an increase in pitch involves an increase in
frequency (hi pitch; hi frequency)
• the frequency of vocal fold vibration depends
on the mass and length of the vocal folds and
the tension
3 major aspects (con’t)
 Loudness - intensity of sound
• involves the amount of energy generated by the vocal
fold movements
• intensity increases with increased air pressure from the
lungs and increased amplitude of the vocal fold
vibration
• involves the amount of energy generated by the vocal
fold movements
• intensity increases with increased air pressure from the
lungs and increased amplitude of the vocal fold
vibration
 Quality - the sound quality of the voice
• this is affected by the pattern of movement of the vocal
folds
Resonance: The characteristic
quality of the voice
 The speech mechanism is a resonator -- it is like
an air-filled tube (closed on one end and open at
the other end)
 the fundamental frequency generated at the vocal
folds is resonated in the vocal tract that is now
also vibrating -- the vibration of the vocal tract is
the HARMONIC FREQUENCY
 every body or object has its own natural frequency
 those frequencies that match the vocal tract’s
natural frequency will be amplified this is
resonance
Resonance (con’t)
 Pharynx is the primary resonator
 recall the 3 parts of the pharynx
(nasopharynx, oropharynx, laryngopharynx)
 the nasopharynx and oropharynx are the 2
resonating systems
 these 2 systems provide resonance to
sounds that pass through the oral and nasal
cavities
Articulation
 Serves to produce the different
configurations which make up the different
speech sounds
Dynamics of Speech Production
 Speech is a dynamic rather than a static
phenomenon
• the articulators are in a state of constant
movement during speech

 Individual speech sounds are described in

terms of target positions; ongoing speech is
better thought of in terms of movement
Dynamics of Speech Production (con’t)
 Sounds in a word don’t follow each other
like printed letters

 spoken sounds overlap with each other

• this is referred to as CO-
ARTICULATION
Co-articulation
 as the articulators are in the process of forming
one sound, their positioning prepares them for the
sound that follows
 speech sounds influence and are influenced by
other sounds within a phonetic environment
 the dynamic nature of speech means that we are
planning events before they occur
 we may articulate one segment before completing
another
• we may be as much as several segments ahead
or behind in our motor activity
Co-articulation
 Important clinically because a client cannot simply
be taught to pronounce a given sound in one
simple way
• need to provide practice in a variety of phonetic
environments
 Examples of co-articulation
• /iki/ - point of artic for /k/ is more forward
(palatal) than velar
• / uku/ - point of artic for /k/ is more posterior
(uvular) than velar
• /aka/ - point of artic for /k/ is actually velar
• sneeze ~ snooze; see ~ Sue
Co-articulation (con’t)
 Why do we have co-articulation?
• It’s not because we’re lazy.
• There are too many demands on the speech
mechanism than there is time to fulfill them
• normal conversation is produced at a rate of between
10-20 segments/second which implies a maximum
of 100msec/segment
• however, it takes much longer than this to complete
any speech gesture and then return to the starting
point
• THEREFORE, something has to give -- thus,
compromise gestures are made
Co-articulation (con’t)
 It is true that dialects and registers of speech
(formal vs informal) differ in the amount of
coarticulation that can be made
• non-native speakers want to learn this allowable
accommodations in order to sound more normal
• the second language learner often has a hypercorrect
pronunciation that sounds strange because it lacks the
usual shortcuts that native speakers take
 Need to distinguish co-articulation from
assimilation
• co-articulation means that 2 different sounds
were being articulated simultaneously
• one tongue movement was made for both sounds
Assimilation
 Refers to changes that cross phonemic boundaries
and results in a major phonetic change
 The resulting change is to a different sound
(phoneme)
 Co-articulation results in non-phonemic
differences
 In assimilation, there is a major change in the
place of articulation, manner of articulation, or
voicing of a segment, such that it falls into a
different phonemic category
 Examples of assimilation
• I miss you; got you; had you; phone booth
Types of Assimilation (direction of
accommodation)
 Regression assimilation - a particular sound
influences the sound immediately preceding
it
• EX: miss you
• also referred to anticipatory, or right-to-left
assimilation
 Progressive assimilation - a given sound
produces changes in the sound that follows
• EX: cats dogs
• left-to-right assimilation
Other Combinatory Phenomena
 Elision (ellipsis) - when a segment or
several segments are left out of a word
when it is pronounced
• dialectal differences in elision, e.g.,
“interesting”, “secretary”
 Epenthesis - the insertion of a sound,
generally to break up consonant clusters or
to provide a transition between sounds
Other Combinatory Phenomena
(con’t)
 Metathesis - when two adjacent segments
are reversed
• EX: “ask” [æks]
• dialectal metathesis