CONSTRAINTS ON THE VARIABILITY IN ENGLISH VOICE ONSET TIME PRODUCTION: EVIDENCE FROM SPONTANEOUS SPEECH
Main Article Content
Abstract
Voice onset time (VOT) - an aspect of stop production, is known to be constrained by a number of word-level and speaker-level factors. While there has been extensive experimental research on VOT production, few studies have situated this aspect in naturally-occurring spontaneous speech. The goal of this study is twofold. First, we determine if the factors that affect VOT production in experimental studies conducted in speech laboratories are also relevant for VOT production in spontaneous speech. Second, we explore the possible interactions among those factors. In this study, a spoken corpus consisting of clips from a reality TV show was analyzed using a semi-automatic VOT measurement method that allows for the quick and reliable processing of large numbers of VOT measures. The findings confirm the effects of word-level constraints in the expected directions; however, we find negligible effects of speakers' individual differences, namely speech rate and speaker’s gender, on VOTs. The current study sheds new light on a range of factors that were previously identified as significantly affecting the patterning of VOTs found in experimentally-elicited data.
Article Details
Keywords
voiced onset time, stop production, spontaneous speech
References
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Auzou, P., Ozsancak, C., Morris, R., Jane, M., Eustache, F., & Hannequin, D. (2000). Voice onset time in aphasia, apraxia of speech and dysarthria: A review. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 14(2), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/026992000298878
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2014). lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using ‘Eigen’ and S4. R package version 1.1-7. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/index.html.
Berry, J., & Moyle, M. (2011). Covariation among vowel height effects on acoustic measures. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(5), 365-371. https://doi.org/10.1121%2F1.3651095
Cho, T., & Ladefoged, P. (1999). Variations and universals in VOT: Evidence from 18 languages. Journal of Phonetics, 27, 207-229. https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.1999.0094
Cole, J., Kim, H., Choi, H., & Hasegawa-Johnson, M. (2007). Prosodic effects on acoustic cues to stop voicing and place of articulation: Evidence from Radio News speech. Journal of Phonetics, 35(2), 180-209.
Docherty, G. (1992). The timing of voicing in British English obstruents. Foris. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110872637
Forrest, K., Weismer, G., & Turner, S. (1989). Kinematic, acoustic, and perceptual analyses of connected speech produced by Parkinsonian and normal geriatric adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 85, 2608-2622. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.397755
Kendall, T. (2013). Speech rate, pause and sociolinguistic variation, Palgrave Macmillan.
Keshet, J., Sonderegger, M., & Knowles, T. (2014). AutoVOT: A tool for automatic measurement of voice onset time using discriminative structured prediction [Computer program],Version 0.91. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4763995
Kessinger, R., & Blumstein, S. (1997). Effects of speaking rate on voice onset time in Thai, French, and English. Journal of Phonetics, 23, 148-68. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1006/jpho.1996.0039
Klatt, D. H. (1975). Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration in word-initial consonant clusters. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 18, 686-706. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.1804.686
Koenig, L. (2000). Laryngeal factors in voiceless consonant production in men, women, and 5-year-olds. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 1211-1228,
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 20, 384-422.
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. (1967). Some effects of context on voice onset time in English stops. Language and Speech, 10, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1964.11659830
Miller, J., Green, K., & Reeves, A. (1986). Speaking rate and segments: A look at the relation between speech production and speech perception for the voicing contrast. Phonetica, 43(3), 106-115.
Morris, R., McCrea, C., & Herring, K. (2008). Voice onset time differences between adult males and females: Isolated syllables. Journal of Phonetics, 36(2), 308-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2007.06.003
Nearey, T., & Rochet, B. (1994). Effects of place of articulation and vowel context on VOT production and perception for French and English stops. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 24, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300004965
Oh, E. (2011). Effects of speaker gender on voice onset time in Korean stops. Journal of Phonetics, 39(1), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2010.11.002
Petrosino, L., Colcord, R., Kurcz, K., & Yonker, R. (1993). Voice onset time of velar stop productions in aged speakers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 83-88. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1993.76.1.83
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/
Rosenfelder, I., Fruehwald, J., Evanini, K., & Yuan, J. (2011). FAVE (Forced Alignment and Vowel Extraction).
Ryalls, J., Zipprer, A., & Baldauff, P. (1997) A preliminary investigation of the effects of gender and race on Voice Onset Time. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 40, 642-645. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4003.642
Ryalls, J., Simon, M., & Thomason, J. (2004). Voice onset time production in older Caucasian and African-Americans. Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders, 2, 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/1476967031000090980
Sonderegger, M. (2012). Phonetic and phonological dynamics on reality television. University of Chicago dissertation.
Sonderegger, M., & Keshet, J. (2012). Automatic measurement of voice onset time using discriminative structured prediction. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132, 3965-3979. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4763995
Sonderegger, M. (2015). Trajectories of voice onset time in spontaneous speech on reality TV. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.
Stuart-Smith, J., Sonderegger, M., Rathcke, T., & MacDonald, R. (2015). The private life of stops: VOT in a real-time corpus of spontaneous Glaswegian. Laboratory Phonology, 6, 505-549. https://doi.org/10.1515/lp-2015-0015
Torre, P., & Barlow, J. (2009). Age-related changes in acoustic characteristics of adult speech. Journal of Communication Disorders, 42(5), 324-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2009.03.001
Volaitis, L. E., & Miller, J. L. (1992). Phonetic prototypes: Influence of place of articulation and speaking rate on the internal structure of voicing categories. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 92(2), 723-735. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.403997
Whiteside, S. P., & Irving, C. J. (1998). Speakers' sex differences in voice onset time: a study of isolated word production. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 86(2), 651-654. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1997.85.2.459
Whiteside, S. P., & Marshall, J. (2001). Developmental trends in voice onset time: Some evidence for sex differences. Phonetica, 58(3), 196-210. https://doi.org/10.1159/000056199
Whiteside, S. P., Henry, L. & Dobbin, R. (2004). Sex differences in voice onset time: a developmental study of phonetic context effects in British English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116(2), 1179-1183. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1768256
Yao, Y. (2009). Understanding VOT variation in spontaneous speech. In M. Pak (Ed.), Current numbers in unity and diversity of languages (pp.1122-1137). Linguistic Society of Korea.
Yu, A. C. L., Abrego-Collier, C., & Sonderegger, M. (2013). Phonetic imitation from an individual-difference perspective: Subjective attitude, personality and “autistic” traits. PloS One, 8(9), e74746. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074746
Auzou, P., Ozsancak, C., Morris, R., Jane, M., Eustache, F., & Hannequin, D. (2000). Voice onset time in aphasia, apraxia of speech and dysarthria: A review. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 14(2), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/026992000298878
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2014). lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using ‘Eigen’ and S4. R package version 1.1-7. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/index.html.
Berry, J., & Moyle, M. (2011). Covariation among vowel height effects on acoustic measures. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(5), 365-371. https://doi.org/10.1121%2F1.3651095
Cho, T., & Ladefoged, P. (1999). Variations and universals in VOT: Evidence from 18 languages. Journal of Phonetics, 27, 207-229. https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.1999.0094
Cole, J., Kim, H., Choi, H., & Hasegawa-Johnson, M. (2007). Prosodic effects on acoustic cues to stop voicing and place of articulation: Evidence from Radio News speech. Journal of Phonetics, 35(2), 180-209.
Docherty, G. (1992). The timing of voicing in British English obstruents. Foris. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110872637
Forrest, K., Weismer, G., & Turner, S. (1989). Kinematic, acoustic, and perceptual analyses of connected speech produced by Parkinsonian and normal geriatric adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 85, 2608-2622. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.397755
Kendall, T. (2013). Speech rate, pause and sociolinguistic variation, Palgrave Macmillan.
Keshet, J., Sonderegger, M., & Knowles, T. (2014). AutoVOT: A tool for automatic measurement of voice onset time using discriminative structured prediction [Computer program],Version 0.91. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4763995
Kessinger, R., & Blumstein, S. (1997). Effects of speaking rate on voice onset time in Thai, French, and English. Journal of Phonetics, 23, 148-68. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1006/jpho.1996.0039
Klatt, D. H. (1975). Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration in word-initial consonant clusters. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 18, 686-706. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.1804.686
Koenig, L. (2000). Laryngeal factors in voiceless consonant production in men, women, and 5-year-olds. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 1211-1228,
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 20, 384-422.
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. (1967). Some effects of context on voice onset time in English stops. Language and Speech, 10, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1964.11659830
Miller, J., Green, K., & Reeves, A. (1986). Speaking rate and segments: A look at the relation between speech production and speech perception for the voicing contrast. Phonetica, 43(3), 106-115.
Morris, R., McCrea, C., & Herring, K. (2008). Voice onset time differences between adult males and females: Isolated syllables. Journal of Phonetics, 36(2), 308-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2007.06.003
Nearey, T., & Rochet, B. (1994). Effects of place of articulation and vowel context on VOT production and perception for French and English stops. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 24, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300004965
Oh, E. (2011). Effects of speaker gender on voice onset time in Korean stops. Journal of Phonetics, 39(1), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2010.11.002
Petrosino, L., Colcord, R., Kurcz, K., & Yonker, R. (1993). Voice onset time of velar stop productions in aged speakers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 83-88. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1993.76.1.83
R Core Team (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/
Rosenfelder, I., Fruehwald, J., Evanini, K., & Yuan, J. (2011). FAVE (Forced Alignment and Vowel Extraction).
Ryalls, J., Zipprer, A., & Baldauff, P. (1997) A preliminary investigation of the effects of gender and race on Voice Onset Time. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 40, 642-645. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4003.642
Ryalls, J., Simon, M., & Thomason, J. (2004). Voice onset time production in older Caucasian and African-Americans. Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders, 2, 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/1476967031000090980
Sonderegger, M. (2012). Phonetic and phonological dynamics on reality television. University of Chicago dissertation.
Sonderegger, M., & Keshet, J. (2012). Automatic measurement of voice onset time using discriminative structured prediction. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132, 3965-3979. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4763995
Sonderegger, M. (2015). Trajectories of voice onset time in spontaneous speech on reality TV. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.
Stuart-Smith, J., Sonderegger, M., Rathcke, T., & MacDonald, R. (2015). The private life of stops: VOT in a real-time corpus of spontaneous Glaswegian. Laboratory Phonology, 6, 505-549. https://doi.org/10.1515/lp-2015-0015
Torre, P., & Barlow, J. (2009). Age-related changes in acoustic characteristics of adult speech. Journal of Communication Disorders, 42(5), 324-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2009.03.001
Volaitis, L. E., & Miller, J. L. (1992). Phonetic prototypes: Influence of place of articulation and speaking rate on the internal structure of voicing categories. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 92(2), 723-735. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.403997
Whiteside, S. P., & Irving, C. J. (1998). Speakers' sex differences in voice onset time: a study of isolated word production. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 86(2), 651-654. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1997.85.2.459
Whiteside, S. P., & Marshall, J. (2001). Developmental trends in voice onset time: Some evidence for sex differences. Phonetica, 58(3), 196-210. https://doi.org/10.1159/000056199
Whiteside, S. P., Henry, L. & Dobbin, R. (2004). Sex differences in voice onset time: a developmental study of phonetic context effects in British English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116(2), 1179-1183. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1768256
Yao, Y. (2009). Understanding VOT variation in spontaneous speech. In M. Pak (Ed.), Current numbers in unity and diversity of languages (pp.1122-1137). Linguistic Society of Korea.
Yu, A. C. L., Abrego-Collier, C., & Sonderegger, M. (2013). Phonetic imitation from an individual-difference perspective: Subjective attitude, personality and “autistic” traits. PloS One, 8(9), e74746. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074746