Abstract
This experiment explored the information for place of articulation provided bylocus equations— equations for a line relating the second formant (F2) of a vowel at midpoint toF2 of the formant at consonant-vowel (CV) syllable onset. Locus equations cue place indirectly by quantifying directly the degree of coarticulatory overlap (coarticulation resistance) between consonant and vowel. Coarticulation resistance is correlated with place, The experiment tested predictions that when coarticulation resistance varies due to properties of the consonant other than place of articulation (in particular due to manner of articulation), locus equations would not accurately reflect consonantal place of articulation. These predictions were confirmed. In addition, discriminant analyses, using locus equation variables as classifiers, were generally unsuccessful in classifying a set of consonants representing six different places of articulation. I conclude that locus equations are unlikely to provide useful place information to listeners.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aaltonen, O. (1985). The effect of relative amplitudes ofF2 andF3 on the categorization of synthetic vowels.Journal of Phonetics,13, 1–9.
Best, C. T., Morrongiello, B., &Robson, R. (1981). Perceptual equivalence of acoustic cues in speech and nonspeech perception.Perception & Psyckophysics,29, 191–211
Bladon, A., &Al-Bamerni, A. (1976). Coarticulation resistance in English /l/.Journal of Phonetics,4, 137–150
Blumstein, S., Isaacs, E., &Mertus, J. (1982). The role of the gross spectral shape as a perceptual cue to place of articulation in initial stop consonants.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,72, 43–50
Blumstein, S., &Stevens, K. (1980). Perceptual invariance and onset spectra for stop consonants in different vocalic contexts.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,67, 648–662.
Bond, Z., &Garnes, S. (1980). Misperceptions of fluent speech. In R. Cole (Ed.)Perception and production of fluent speech (pp. 115–121) Hillsdale, NJ Erlbaum.
Browman, C., &Goldstein, L. (1986). Towards an articulatory phonology.Phonology,3, 219–252.
Browman, C., &Goldstein, L. (1990). Gestural specification using dynamically-defined articulatory structures.Journal of Phonetics,18, 299–320.
Browman, C., &Goldstein, L. (1992). Articulatory phonology: An overview.Phonetica,49, 155–180
Clements, G. N. (1985). The geometry of phonological features.Phonology Yearbook,2, 225–252.
Dell, G. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in speech production.Psychological Review,93, 283–321
Duez, D. (1992). Second-formant locus patterns: An investigation of spontaneous French speech.Speech Communication,11, 417–427
Fant, G. (1960).Acoustic theory of speech production. The Hague: Mouton.
Fowler, C. A. (1986). An event approach to the study of speech perception from a direct realist perspective.Journal of Phonetics,14, 1–28.
Fowler, C. A., &Rosenblum, L. D. (1991). The perception of phonetic gestures. In I. G. Mattingly & M. Studdert-Kennedy (Eds.),Modularity and the motor theory of speech perception (pp 33–59) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Fowler, C. A., Rubin, P., Remez, R., &Turvey, M. (1980). Implications for speech production of a general theory of action. In B. Butterworth (Eds.)Language production I: Speech and talk (pp 373–420). London: Academic Press.
Gibson, J. (1979).The ecological approach to visual perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Goldsmith, J. (1976).Autosegmental phonology. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
Greenberg, J., &Jenkins, J. (1964). Studies in the psychological correlates of the sound system of American English.Word,20, 157–177.
Hammarberg, R. (1976). The metaphysics of coarticulation.Journal of Phonetics,4, 113–133.
Kelso, J. A. S., Tuller, B., Vatikiotis-Bateson, E., &Fowler, C. A. (1984). FunctionaJIy-specific articulatory cooperation following jaw perturbation during speech: Evidence for coordinative structures.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,10, 812–832,
Kewley-Port, D. (1981).Representation of spectral change as cues to place of articulation in stop consonants. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, City University of New York.
Krull, D. (1989). Consonant-vowel coarticulation in spontaneous speech and in reference words.PERILUS,10, 101–105.
Kuhn, G. (1975). On the front-cavity resonance and its possible role in speech perception.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,58, 428–433
Lahiri, A., Gewirth, L., &Blumstein, S. (1984). A reconsideration of acoustic invariance for place of articulation in diffuse stop consonants.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,76, 39–1404.
Lee, D. (1976). A theory of visual control of braking based on information about time to collision.Perception,5, 437–459.
Liberman, A., Cooper, F., Shankweiler, D., &Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the speech code.Psychological Review,74, 431–461.
Liberman, A., &Mattingly, I. (1985). The motor theory revised.Cognitive Psychology,21, 1–36,
Lindblom, B. (1963).On vowel reduction (Report No, 29). The Royal Institute of Technology, Speech Transmission Laboratory, Stockholm, Sweden
Mann, V. A. (1980). Influence of preceding liquid on stop-consonant perception.Perception & Psychophysics,28, 407–412,
Mann, V. A. (1986). Distinguishing universal and language-dependent levels of speech perception: Evidence from Japanese listeners perception of English “1” and “r”.Cognition,24, 169–196.
Massaro, D. (1987).Speech perception by ear and eye. A paradigm for psychological inquiry. Hillsdale, NJ. Erlbaum.
Nearby, T., &Shamass, S. (1987). Formant transitions as partly distinctive invariant properties in the identification of voiced stops.Canadian Acoustics,15, 17–24.
Ohman, S. (1967). Numerical model of coarticulation.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,41, 310–320
Perkell, J. (1969).Physiology of speech production. Results and implications of a quantitative cineradiography study. Cambridge, MAMIT Press.
Pierre Humbert, J. (1990). Phonological and phonetic representation.Journal of Phonetics,18, 375–394.
Recasens, D. (1984). V-to-C coarticulation in Catalan VCV sequences. An articulatory and acoustical study.Journal of Phonetics,12, 61–73
Recasens, D. (1989). Long range ccarticulatory effects for tongue dorsum contact in VCVCV sequences.Speech Communication,8, 293–307.
Reed, E., & Jones, R. (Eds.). (1982).Reasons for realism Selected essays of James J Gibson. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Repp, B. (1981). On levels of description in speech research.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,69, 1462–1464.
Saltzman, E., &Kelso, J. A. S. (1987). Skilled action; A task-dynamic approach.Psychological Review,94, 84–106.
Shattuck-Hufnagel, S. (1979). Speech errors as evidence for a serialordering mechanism in sentence production. In W. Cooper & E. Walker (Eds.)Sentence processing. Psycholinguisac studies presented to Merrill Garrett (pp 295–342). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Singh, S., Woods, D., &Becker, G. (1972). Perceptual structure of 22 prevocalic English consonants.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,52, 1698–1713.
Stevens, K. (1989). On the quantal nature of speech.Journal of Phonetics,17, 3–45.
Stevens, K., &Blumstein, S. (1981). The search for invariant correlates of phonetic features. In P. Eimas & J. Miller (Eds.)Perspectives of the study of speech (pp. 1–38). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sussman, H. (1989). Neural coding of relational invariance in speech: Human language analogs to the bam owl.Psychological Review,96, 631–642.
Sussman, H. (1991). The representation of stop consonants in threedimensional acoustic space.Phonetica,48, 18–31
Sussman, H., Hoemeke, K., &Ahmed, F. (1993). Across-linguistic investigation of locus equations as a phonetic descriptor for place of articulation.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,94, 1256–1268.
Sussman, H., McCaffrey, H., &Matthews, S. (1991). An investigation of locus equations as a source of relational invariance for stop place categorization.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,90, 1309–1325.
van den Broecke, M., &Goldstein, L. (1980). Consonant features in speech errors. In V. Fromkin (Ed.)Errors in linguistic performance; Slips of the tongue, ear, pen, and hand (pp. 47–65). New York: Academic Press.
Wagner, H., Takahashi, T., &Konishi, M. (1987). Representation of interaural time difference in the central nucleus of the bam owl’s inferior colliculus.Journal of Neuroscience,7, 3105–3116,
Wallev, A., &Carrell, T. (1983). Onset spectra and formant transitions in the adult’s and child’s perception of place of articulation.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,73, 1011–1022
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research reported here was supported by NICHD Grant HD 01994 to Haskins Laboratories
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fowler, C.A. Invariants, specifiers, cues: An investigation of locus equations as information for place of articulation. Perception & Psychophysics 55, 597–610 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211675
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211675