Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Articulatory Phonetics'

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-96). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

This dissertation is aimed at investigating the impact of postural changes within speakers on the acoustic speech signal to complement research on articulatory changes under the same conditions. The research is therefore relevant for forensic phonetics, where quantifying within-speaker variation is vital for the accuracy of speaker comparison. To this end, two acoustic studies were carried out to quantify the influence of five head positions and three body orientations on the acoustic speech signal. Results show that there is a consistent change in the third formant, a change which was most evident in the body orientation measurements, and to a lesser extent in the head position data. Analysis of the results with respect to compensation strategies indicates that speakers employ different strategies to compensate for these perturbations to their vocal tract. Some speakers did not exhibit large differences in their speech signal, while others appeared to compensate much less. Across all speakers, the effect was much stronger in what were deemed ‘less natural’, postures. That is, speakers were apparently less able to predict and compensate for the impact of prone body orientation on their speech than for that of the more natural supine orientation. In addition to the acoustic studies, a perception experiment assessed whether listeners could make use of acoustic cues to determine the posture of the speaker. Stimuli were chosen with, by design, stronger or weaker acoustic cues to posture, in order to elicit a possible difference in identification performance. Listeners were nevertheless not able to identify above chance whether a speaker was sitting or lying in prone body orientation even when hearing the set with stronger cues. Further combined articulatory and acoustic research will have to be carried out to disentangle which articulatory behaviours correlate with the acoustic changes presented in order to draw a more comprehensive picture of the effects of postural variation on speech.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xxiii, 335 p.; also includes graphics (some col). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Osamu Fujimura, Dept. of Speech and Hearing Science. Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-165).

This dissertation argues that the affrication of /t/ and /d/ before /ɹ/ is an active sound change in progress that has been phonologized. Despite numerous references to it in the literature, no experimental work has been undertaken to investigate the phenomenon. This dissertation aims to fill that gap. Conducted over three separate studies, the research presented in subsequent chapters explores three specific questions: Q1: Apparent Time Study – Is the phenomenon of /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ affrication in English a sound change in progress? Q2: Production Study – Are English /t/ and /d/ in /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ clusters articulated like prevocalic [t] and [d], like prevocalic [tʃ] and [dʒ], like neither, or like both? Q3: Perception Study – Do English speakers categorize affricated variants of /t/ found in /tɹ/ clusters as T or CH? Chapter 2 presents results from an Apparent Time Study, which examines sociolinguistic interview data from a corpus of Raleigh, North Carolina English speakers of different ages, all born in the 20th century. The Raleigh corpus is considered to be a suitable choice for conducting this investigation for several reasons. First, it is expected that the phonetic motivation for /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ affrication will be present in any English-speaking community. Second, Raleigh experienced an influx of technology workers to the area from Northern regions of the United States in the middle of the 20th century, following the development of Research Triangle Park (RTP), making it plausible that the resulting dialect contact may have led to the introduction of novel affricated variants to the region. Third, /tɹ/ affrication has been implicated in s-retraction (in /stɹ/ clusters), which is a sound change in progress that has been reported in Raleigh English. The Apparent Time Study aims to determine whether /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ affrication, if present, is a sound change in progress and/or whether the emergence of affricated variants may have been the result of dialect contact. Building on these findings, Chapter 3 presents results from a Production Study conducted in Raleigh, North Carolina, which captures audio, ultrasound, and video data in order to investigate how English speakers’ /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ sequences are coarticulated. The Production Study provides an opportunity to find out how affricated variants of /t/ and /d/ before /ɹ/ are articulated. Chapter 4 presents results from a Perception Study, which explores how listeners (from the Production Study) categorize affricated variants of /t/ spliced from before /ɹ/. Chapter 5 compares results from across studies, and Chapter 6 provides a general discussion and conclusion.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xx, 351 p.; also includes graphics Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-351). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Le bribri est une langue chibcha parlée au Costa Rica (Amérique Centrale). Les langues chibcha représentent la principale famille de l’Aire Intermédiaire (Constenla 1991), qui relie la Mesoamérique aux zones amazonienne et andine. Ce sont cependant toutes des langues en danger, encore relativement peu décrites.Cette thèse est une analyse de la phonologie du bribri (Schlabach 1974 ; Wilson 1974 ; Constenla 1981 ; Jara 2004), problématisée autour de ses caractéristiques typologiques :(i) Le système nasal : le bribri fait partie des rares langues du monde dans lesquelles la nasalité n’est pas distinctive pour les consonnes. Les consonnes nasales présentes dans l’output sont le résultat d’harmonies nasales (Cohn 1993 ; Walker 1998, 2001) et d’hypervoisement par abaissement du voile du palais (Iverson & Salmons 1996 ; Solé 2009). Alors que le premier processus avait en partie été décrit pour le bribri (Wilson 1970 ; Constenla 1982, 1985 ; Tohsaku 1987), le second n’avait pas encore été identifié.(ii) La consonne /tk/ : une unité distinctive, combinant deux lieux, sans pour autant être une consonne doublement articulée, contrairement à ce qui avait précédemment été décrit (Lehmann 1920 ; Schlabach 1974 ; Wilson 1974 ; Constenla 1981 ; Jara 2004). Je propose de l’analyser comme une géminée modulée (contour segment, Sagey 1990).La présente étude s’inscrit dans la lignée des travaux qui considèrent que les structures phonologiques doivent être expliquées par des contraintes phonétiques, comme les travaux précurseurs d’Ohala (1975, 1981, 1983). J’utilise plus particulièrement le modèle de la Phonologie Articulatoire (Browman & Goldstein 1986, 1989). Les analyses s’appuient sur des données acoustiques, récoltées dans deux communautés bribri entre 2012 et 2014 (Bajo Coen - Coroma et Amubre).En plus d’une démarche typologique et phonétique, j’adopte une approche dialectale et diachronique, afin de mieux appréhender le système phonologique de la langue
Bribri is a Chibchan language spoken in Costa Rica (Central America). Chibchan languages form the main family of the Intermediate Area (Constenla 1991), which links Mesoamerica to the Amazonian and the Andean regions. All of them are endangered and are still under described.This dissertation provides an analysis of Bribri phonology (Schlabach 1974; Wilson 1974; Constenla 1981; Jara 2004) problematized according to its typological characteristics:(i) The nasal system: Bribri is among the few languages in the world to lack distinctive nasal consonants. The nasal consonants present in the output result from nasal harmony (Cohn 1993; Walker 1998, 2001) and hypervoicing through velopharyngeal opening (Iverson & Salmons 1996; Solé 2009). While the first process has been partially described for Bribri (Wilson 1970; Constenla 1982, 1985; Tohsaku 1987), the second has not been individuated in the language.(ii) The consonant /tk/: the consonant /tk/ is a distinctive unit which combines two places of articulation. Contrary to what has been previously described (Lehmann 1920; Schlabach 1974; Wilson 1974; Constenla 1981; Jara 2004), it is not a doubly articulated consonant. I propose to analyse it as a contour geminate consonant (based on the concept of contour segment, Sagey 1990).Following Ohala’s pioneering work (1975, 1981, 1983), this work is based on the assumption that phonological structures must be explained by phonetic constraints. More specifically, I use the Articulatory Phonology frame (Browman & Goldstein 1986, 1989). The analysis is based on acoustic data collected among two Bribri communities, between 2012 and 2014 (Bajo Coen - Coroma and Amubre).Along the typological and phonetic approach, I have adopted a dialectal and diachronical point of view to better capture the phonological system of the language

The traditional way of estimating the formant frequencies from articulatory data presupposes knowledge of how the vocal tract cross-sectional area varies for a given articulatory shape (Fant 1960/1970). Accordingly, in order to derive the formant pattern of a given articulation, the three-dimensional shape of the vocal tract (VT) needs to be known. In the past cross-sectional areas have typically been derived by means of ‘d-to-A rules’ that use the mid-sagittal cross-distance d at each point along the VT to produce a corresponding cross-sectional area A. X-ray and MRI data have been used to calibrate such rules (Heinz & Stevens 1964, Sundberg et al. 1987, Ericsdotter 2005). Although this procedure has produced many useful results it is time consuming and laborious. It is speaker-specific. It presupposes access to information on the three-dimensional shape of the VT, which is not experimentally readily accessible. Such observations raise the question whether sufficiently accurate alternative approaches can be developed. Is it possible to go straight from articulatory data to formant frequencies without having to construct a cross-sectional area function? If such methods could be developed it would have many uses both in phonetics and practical applications. This paper reports an attempt to map the time variations of selected articulatory parameters from X-ray profiles directly on the formant tracks using multiple regression analysis. Preliminary results for F1 indicate that multiple regression analysis can indeed be useful for making such predictions. The prospects of extending the present analyses to other formants are discussed.

Orientador: Eleonora Cavalcante Albano
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Este trabalho examina o processo de produção de vogais desvozeadas no português brasileiro (doravante PB). O objetivo é, a partir de uma visão de cunho dinâmico, mostrar que há, no sinal das chamadas sílabas desvozeadas, rastros da vogal que impossibilitam uma hipótese de síncope vocálica. Além disso, busca-se uma síntese teórica das pistas acústicas encontradas a fim de relacioná-las à articulação das vogais desvozeadas. Para tanto, uma análise acústico-articulatória foi realizada a partir da gravação da leitura de frases-veículos. As leituras das frases foram realizadas por seis sujeitos do sexo feminino, naturais de Vitória da Conquista - BA, sem queixas de fala ou audição. As gravações foram realizadas em uma cabine acústica, por meio de gravador digital. A análise instrumental foi realizada por meio do software PRAAT. Foram obtidas as medidas de duração da sílaba e do ruído fricativo, as medidas do centroide do ruído e os valores da Razão de centralização formântica (doravante FCR) e a Área de espaço vocálico (doravante VSA) das vogais em contexto de desvozeamento. Os resultados encontrados mostram que há um gradiente de desvozeamento manifestado de três maneiras: as medidas de duração, assim como as medidas do primeiro momento espectral, mostraram que pistas remanescentes do gesto vocálico permanecem no ruído das fricativas; os dados de FCR e VSA mostram que as vogais sofrem uma grande redução da magnitude em contexto de desvozeamento. Os resultados apontam para um efeito de sobreposição de gestos, em detrimento de uma síncope vocálica. Essa hipótese não caberia em descrições fonológicas tradicionais, as quais, em geral, lidam com operações simbólicas. O fenômeno em estudo pode, então, ser iluminado pela Fonologia Gestual (BROWMAN E GOLDSTEIN, 1992; BALL E KENT, 1997; ALBANO, 2001), a qual, em relação à representação tradicional, é capaz de expressar realizações gradientes, pois incorpora com sucesso os fatores tempo e magnitude, diretamente relacionados à ideia de movimento dos articuladores
Abstract: This paper examines the production of devoiced vowels in Brazilian Portuguese. The goal is to depart from a dynamic view to show that there are vowel traces in the signal of devoiced syllables, a fact which weakens the hypothesis of vowel syncope. In addition, we seek a theoretical synthesis of the acoustic cues found in order to relate them to devoiced vowel articulation. To this end, an acoustic-articulatory analysis was performed from the recording of read carrier sentences. The sentences were read by six female subjects, from Vitória da Conquista - BA, without speech or hearing problems. The recordings were performed in an acoustic booth, using a digital recorder. The instrumental analysis was performed using the PRAAT software. The following measurements were made: the duration of the syllable and its fricative noise, the centroid of the noise and the values of formant centralization ratio (FCR) and vowel space area (VSA) of vowels in devoicing context. The results show that there is gradient devoicing manifested in three ways: both the duration measurements and the first spectral moment measures showed that the vowel gesture cues remain in fricative noise signal; FCR and VSA data show that vowels undergo great magnitude reduction in the devoicing context. The results indicate an effect of overlapping gestures, rather than vowel syncope. This hypothesis would not fit into traditional phonological descriptions, which usually deal with symbolic operations. The phenomenon under study can thus then be illuminated by Gestural Phonology (BROWMAN AND GOLDSTEIN, 1992; BALL AND KENT, 1997; ALBANO, 2001), which, as opposed to traditional representation, is able to express gradients, as it incorporates successfully the factors of timing and magnitude, directly related to the idea of articulator movement
Mestrado
Linguistica
Mestre em Linguística

In the light of the Theory of Variation and Change and Generative Phonology, in this study, aims to investigate the performance of a segment /R/ in the community of Porto da Rua (in the northern coast of Alagoas). The phonetic environment in which this realization occurs was determined, as well as the influence of extralinguistic factors analysed. The corpus for this research consisted of 48 informants among men and women born in the community. The categorization of data and statistical analysis were done using the package VARBRUL. Data were coded according to linguistic and social groups of factors (GF). The results indicated that the variant under study may be undergoing a process of linguistic change, since those responsible for spreading the informants are not in school and age over 50 years. Data collection was done through recordings with spontaneous narratives. The objective is thus to study the correlation between linguistic phenomena and stratified external variables (gender, age and education).
Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas
À luz da Teoria da Variação e Mudança e da Fonologia gerativa, pretendeu-se, neste estudo, investigar a realização de um segmento /R/ na comunidade de Porto da Rua (litoral norte de Alagoas). Determinamos o ambiente fonético em que essa realização ocorre e verificamos a influência de fatores extralinguísticos. O corpus para a pesquisa constituiu-se de dados de fala, gravados em áudio, de textos espontâneos produzidos por 48 informantes, homens e mulheres nascidos (e que viveram sempre) na comunidade. A categorização dos dados e a análise estatística foram feitas com a utilização do pacote VARBRUL. Os dados foram codificados de acordo com grupos de fatores (GF) linguísticos e sociais. Objetivou-se, dessa forma, estudar a correlação entre fenômenos linguísticos e variáveis externas estratificadas (sexo, faixa etária e escolarização). Os resultados indicaram que a variante em estudo pode estar passando por um processo de mudança linguística, uma vez que os responsáveis pela sua realização são os informantes não escolarizados e a faixa etária com mais de 50 anos.

The roles of phonetics (e.g., Jun 1995, Holt 1997, Steriade 2001) and Articulatory Phonology (AP, Browman and Goldstein 1986, et seq.) in both the diachronic evolution of and synchronic analyses for phonological processes are relatively recent incorporations into Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy and Prince 1993/2001). I continue this line of inquiry by offering an AP-based OT proposal of three fricative-vowel assimilations in Latin American Spanish: /f/>[x] velarization (fui [xui] "I went"), /f/>[phi] bilabialization (fumo "I smoke") and /x/>[ç] palatalization (gente [çente] "people"). In this dissertation, I pursue three main objectives: to update and clarify via empirical study and spectral analysis the available data; to account for the crosslinguistically recurrent phonological patterns that affect fricative-vowel sequences; and to explain the above processes' genesis and diffusion in Latin American Spanish by integrating the first two goals into an Optimality Theoretic framework. Concerning the first task, data for the three processes are culled primarily from sociolinguistic corpora (Perissinotto 1975, Resnick 1975, Sanicky 1988, inter alia). Lacking from these accounts are detailed phonetic analyses. To fill this gap, I report on a four-part perception and production study designed to update the descriptive facts and provide spectral analyses for the allophonic variants. Regarding the second goal, I show that fricatives are susceptible to regressive consonant-vowel assimilation given the recurrence of assimilatory patterns nearly identical to the Spanish processes under investigation in disparate languages throughout the world. I argue that articulatory and acoustic facts conspire to render place features in (non-sibilant) fricatives difficult to recover given the vast interspeaker, intraspeaker and crosslinguistic variability in production (e.g., Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996) and the greater reliance on fricative-vowel transitional cues as opposed to cues internal to the frication on the part of the hearer (e.g., Manrique and Massone 1981, Feijóo and Fernández 2003). To that end, I argue that the sound changes originate(d) with the hearer's misperception of a speaker's extremely coarticulated target (Baker, Archangeli and Mielke 2011, inter alia). The dissertation concludes with a proposal adapting Jun (1995) that encodes the above articulatory and acoustic facts into an AP-based, typologically-minded OT approach that accounts both diachronically and synchronically for /f/ velarization, /f/ bilabialization and /x/ palatalization in Spanish (updating previous analyses by Lipski 1995 and Mazzaro 2005, 2011).

Adult second language learners often experience major difficulties in perceiving and producing non-native speech sounds. Several perception training studies (Iverson & Evans, 2007; Nishi, & Kewley-Port, 2007; Carlet & Cebrian, 2014) have shown that second- language (L2) learners can improve their L2 perception, also demonstrating significant gains in L2 production (Bradlow, Pisoni, Akahane-Yamada, & Tohkura, 1997; Kartushina et al., 2016). However, research on the assessment of methods other than perceptual training for non-native vowels is still scarce, and none of the previous vowel studies has compared the impact of auditory vs. production-based training on a full set of vowels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two training methods that might be used to improve learners’ identification and articulation of the 11 English RP monophthongal vowels (/i: ɪ e ɜ: æ ʌ ɑ: P N9 ʊ u:/). A total of 84 bilingual Catalan/Spanish learners of English were divided into two experimental groups and a control group, and all were tested on vowel identification, identification of synthesized vowels (with manipulated duration), vowel discrimination and vowel production based on a delayed repetition task. Two groups of bilingual Catalan/Spanish learners of English (N=64) were assigned to different types of audiovisual High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) based on natural CVC words from multiple talkers, either identification (ID) or articulatory (ART) training. Both training procedures comprised 10 one-hour computer-based sessions over 5 weeks, which guaranteed exposure to a minimum of 132 trials/ session. Whereas the ID training required learners to focus on the critical audiovisual cues to recognize the vowel category within a vowel subset, ART training learners were expected to focus on the relevant audiovisual cues for more accurate vowel articulation. Auditory feedback provided assistance to correct identification, or to change erroneous articulations. This paper compares some remarkable effects of perceptual and production-based audiovisual HVPT on the perception and production of the fullset of English vowels. The two HVPT groups showed higher accuracy in vowel perception, as well generalization to new words, talkers and contexts. HVPT not only improved vowel identification and discrimination, but also reduced the learners’ heavy reliance on vowel duration and improved their use of spectral cues in English vowel perception. However, a clear advantage of the ID group was seen in a better identification of trained words and a lesser degree of error dispersion per vowel. Both HVPT methods were effective in leading to significant formant movement for some vowels, with less spectral overlap, but differences in the amount of spectral shift after each training method suggest that ART training was more effective in vowel production. Training was effective in making the production of contrastive vowels more distinct and revealed a conscious attempt of learners to produce acoustically distinct vowel quality targets, with a great deal less spectral overlapping. Pedagogical implications will be discussed.
Los hablantes de segundas lenguas a menudo experimentan grandes dificultades en lo que respecta a la percepción y la producción de sonidos no nativos. Numerosos estudios sobre el entrenamiento de la percepción (Iverson & Evans, 2007; Nishi, & Kewley-Port, 2007; Carlet & Cebrian, 2014) han demostrado que los hablantes de segundas lenguas (L2) pueden mejorar la percepción a la vez que obtienen mejoras significativas en la producción de los sonidos de la L2 (Bradlow, Pisoni, Akahane-Yamada, & Tohkura, 1997; Kartushina et al., 2016). Sin embargo, los estudios sobre métodos de entrenamiento vocálico distintos al entrenamiento perceptivo escasean, y no existe hasta la fecha ningún estudio de las vocales que haya comparado entrenamientos de percepción y producción que abarque todo el sistema vocálico de la L2. Este estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar y comparar dos métodos de entrenamiento vocálico que puedan ser eficaces para mejorar la percepción y producción de todas las 11 vocales monoftongales del inglés RP (/i: ɪ e ɜ: æ ʌ ɑ: P N9 ʊ u:/). Un total de 84 estudiantes de inglés bilingües, con catalán y español como lenguas maternas, fueron distribuidos entre dos grupos experimentales y un grupo de control. Todos los grupos realizaron pruebas de identificación de vocales naturales, identificación de vocales sintetizadas (con manipulación de la duración), discriminación vocálica y producción basada en la repetición. Cada grupo experimental (de N= 32) fue asignado a un tipo de entrenamiento audiovisual de alta variabilidad fonética (HVPT), entrenamiento de identificación (ID) o bien entrenamiento articulatorio (ART), ambos basados en una gran variedad de palabras CVC producidas por diversos hablantes. Los dos métodos de entrenamiento consistían en 10 sesiones de 1 hora con un ordenador durante cinco semanas, y ambos garantizaron la exposición a un mínimo de 132 estímulos por sesión. El entrenamiento ID requería prestar atención a las señales audio-visuales para una identificación correcta de la vocal dentro de las opciones disponibles por pantalla, mientras que el entrenamiento ART requería reconocer las señales acústicas y visuales esenciales para una correcta articulación de la vocal. En cualquier caso se proporcionaba corrección o ‘feedback’ inmediato de los errores en identificación o articulación. Este estudio evalúa los efectos más significativos y destacados que los dos tipos de entrenamiento de alta variabilidad fonética tienen en la percepción y producción de las 11 vocales inglesas. Los dos grupos de entrenamiento de alta variabilidad demostraron mayor precisión en la percepción de todas las vocales, y la mejora fue generalizable a distintas vocales, palabras y contextos ‘no entrenados’ producidos por ‘nuevos’ hablantes nativos. Además de una clara mejora en la percepción vocálica, los resultados demuestran que el entrenamiento de alta variabilidad contribuye a reducir significativamente la excesiva atención que los estudiantes prestan a la “duración” de las vocales, ayudándoles a hacer un uso más eficiente de las características “espectrales” para distinguir las distintas vocales del inglés. Cabe destacar que el grupo ID obtuvo una mejor puntuación que el grupo ART en la identificación de palabras “entrenadas” así como mejores resultados con respecto al grado de dispersión de los errores de identificación. Por lo que respecta a la producción, ambos métodos de entrenamiento dieron lugar a un movimiento general de los formantes vocálicos, generando así un menor grado de superposición espectral en el sistema vocálico de la L2. Sin embargo, el entrenamiento ART resulto ser más efectivo que el ID para conseguir una mejora en la articulación vocálica, y una menor superposición de las categorías vocálicas dentro del sistema vocálico de la L2. En definitiva, los resultados en producción señalan que el entrenamiento de alta variabilidad fonética contribuyó a mejorar la producción de las vocales del inglés, mostrando categorías vocálicas distintas entre ellas tras cinco semanas. Los resultados muestran que el entrenamiento hizo más visibles las características espectrales de las vocales. Estos resultados pueden ser de gran utilidad para aplicaciones prácticas de aprendizaje de la pronunciación del inglés.

Ce travail se focalise sur le parler du tarifit de la province de Nador, afin d’étudier la gémination dans cette variante du berbère, parlée au Maroc. Il s’agit d’une investigation articulatoire cinéradiographique et acoustique. Un aperçu général du système phonologique du tarifit est proposé. Dans la revue critique de l’état de la question, nous avons tenté, d’abord, de montrer les différents arguments relatifs à la représentation des géminées en un seul segment ou en une suite de deux segments. Nous avons ensuite évoqué les débats contradictoires sur les notions de tension et de gémination. Notre recherche est conduite dans le cadre du paradigme de la perturbation et des réajustements, en variant la vitesse d’élocution. Les résultats principaux dans le domaine acoustique montrent, pour toutes les consonnes, simples et géminées, produites en vitesse d'élocution normale ou rapide, que la durée de la tenue consonantique est l’indice principal qui permet de les distinguer. Au niveau articulatoire, l’étude du timing des paramètres articulatoires indique, entre autres, que c’est le contact apical, vélaire et uvulaire, plus long pour la géminée, qui est le paramètre préférentiel de la distinction phonologique simple vs. géminée. L’analyse des vues de profil donne les résultats suivants en ce qui concerne l’étendue de contact (mm) : a) l’étendue de contact des occlusives est systématiquement plus importante pour les géminées que pour les simples ; b) l’étendue de contact augmente de la consonne apical, au vélaire (réalisée plutôt palatale), puis à l’uvulaire. Les résultats sont discutés en termes de relations articulatori - acoustiques
This work focuses on tarifit of the provinces of Nador, in order to study gemination in this variant of Berber spoken in Morocco. This is an acoustic and articulatory X-ray investigation. A general overview of the tarifit phonological system is proposed. In a critical review of the literature, we tried, first, to show the different arguments concerning representation of geminates as one or as a sequence of two segments. We then discussed the contradictory debates on the concepts of tension and gemination. Our research is carried out within the perturbation and readjustments paradigm, by varying speech rates. Main results in the acoustic domain show for all consonants, singletons and geminates, produced in normal or fast speech, that consonantal closure is the main cue that allows distinguishing them. On the articulatory level, the study of the timing of articulatory parameters indicates, among other things, that it is the apical, velar and uvular contact, longer for geminates, which is the preferred parameter of the singleton vs. geminate phonological distinction. Analysis of profile views gives the following results regarding contact extent (mm) : a) contact extent for plosives are systematically larger for geminates than for singletons ; b) contact extent increases as one goes from the apical consonant to the velar (rather palatal) consonant, then to the uvular consonant. Results are discussed in terms of articulatory - acoustic relations

This dissertation focuses on the contributions of Phonetics in the teaching and learning processes of languages pronunciation in Singing. For that, it investigates a teaching proposal based on this discipline of Linguistics, the Phonetics, with emphasis on articulation and representation of speech sounds - the Articulatory Phonetics and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in practice, the phonetic transcription. It is based on the literature on Phonetics and Phonology, in the Linguistics area, on the Teaching of Languages, in the Applied Linguistics, and on the Diction for Singers, in the Arts - specifically, the field of Music, singing. Based on the diagnosis made on the subject of Diction in technical and undergraduate courses of Singing in institutions in the triangle region of Minas Gerais, it reflects and suggests changes on didactic and pedagogical aspects, related to the training of singers and singing teachers. It intends to contribute with theoretical reflections, teaching materials and methodological approaches for the teaching of pronunciation of the major languages in the classical repertoire performed in Brazil.
Esta dissertação centra-se nas contribuições da Fonética no processo ensino e aprendizagem da pronúncia de línguas no Canto. Para isto, investiga uma proposta de ensino elaborada com base nesta disciplina da Linguística, a Fonética, com ênfase na articulação e representação dos sons da fala a Fonética Articulatória e o Alfabeto Fonético Internacional (AFI) em sua prática, a transcrição fonética. Fundamenta-se em literaturas sobre Fonética e Fonologia, da área de Linguística, sobre o Ensino de Línguas, da Linguística Aplicada e, sobre Dicção para Cantores, das Artes especificamente, da subárea Música, o instrumento Canto. Com base no diagnóstico da disciplina Dicção em cursos técnicos e graduação em Canto de algumas instituições na região do Triângulo Mineiro, reflete e sugere mudanças de aspectos didáticos e pedagógicos, em função da formação de cantores professores de Canto. Pretende contribuir com reflexões teóricas, material didático e abordagens para o ensino da pronúncia das principais línguas do repertório erudito praticado no Brasil.
Mestre em Artes

This thesis begins by reviewing the literature pertaining to Scottish English pronunciation which has been produced since the late-eighteenth century. The world of authors, such as Sylvester Douglas, Melville Bell, James Murray, James Wilson, William Grant, Anne McAllister, Jack Aitken and David Abercrombie, is reviewed and its contribution to our understanding of the nature of Scottish English pronunciation is assessed. The methodology and findings of the present study are then presented. The data is gathered from speakers from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen and it centres around their pronunciation of /r, l, w/ and /m/ and their voice onset times for voiceless plosives. Certain discrepancies are noted between the description of these features in the existing literature and the realisations produced by the speakers informing the present study. The articulatory nature and acoustic characteristics of all allophones of /r, l, w/ and /m/ are described. Moreover, their incidence in all phonotactic contexts is set out. Hitherto unattested realisations (such as [f] for /r/, and [w] for 1/1) are noted and discussed at length. The lexical incidence of /w/ and /m/ is investigated and a sound change is observed. Voice onset times of /p, t/ and /k/ are measured in #CV and #CCV position. Statistical analysis finds no demographic difference in VOT values, but consistent significant differences emerge between the phonemic environments. Finally, it is argued that the gulf that exists between the literature pertaining to Scottish English pronunciation and the results of the present study is indicative of the state of our knowledge of the phonetic characteristics of most English accents. Consequently, a case is made for the renaissance of phonetic investigation into all English accents.

This study examined the effect of context on the association between formant trajectories and tongue and lip kinematics in the American English diphthongs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/. Seventeen native speakers of American English had electromagnetic sensors placed on their tongue and lips to record kinematic signals that were time-aligned with the corresponding acoustic recording. Speakers produced the diphthongs in isolation, in a single word rVl context, in a phrase hVd context, and in a sentence context. Kinematic data and the F1 and F2 trajectories were extracted from the middle 50% of each diphthong production. To allow direct comparison of signals with different units of measurement, all data were converted to z-scores. The z-score records were plotted together on common axes. For each tracked sensor from each diphthong production, an absolute difference between the kinematic and acoustic variables was calculated. Average z-score difference sums were calculated for each speaker's /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ production in each context, and this measure was called the Acoustic Kinematic Disparity Index (AKDI). A repeated measures ANOVA was used to test for main context effects on the AKDI, with concurrent contrasts to test for differences between the baseline (isolated diphthong) condition and the more complex phonetic contexts. The results revealed that context has a significant impact on acoustic and kinematic relationships. The sentence context resulted in the highest number of significantly different AKDI values when compared to the isolated condition, the single word rVl context resulted in the second highest number, and the phrase level hVd context resulted in the least differences. These findings suggest, therefore, that more complex phonetic contexts have a greater effect on the acoustic and kinematic relationship. These findings imply that caution is warranted in relying on acoustics to draw inferences about articulator movements in complex phonetic contexts. These results further indicate that the investigation of sounds produced in one context does not necessarily allow a straightforward generalization to other contexts.

Background: Ultrasound Tongue Imaging (UTI) is growing increasingly popular for assessing and treating Speech Sound Disorders (SSDs) and has more recently been used to qualitatively investigate compensatory articulations in speakers with cleft palate (CP). However, its therapeutic application for speakers with CP remains to be tested. A different set of developments, Visual Articulatory Models (VAMs), provide an offline dynamic model with context for lingual patterns. However, unlike UTI, they do not provide real-time biofeedback. Commercially available VAMs, such as Speech Trainer 3D, are available on iDevices, yet their clinical application remains to be tested. Aims: This thesis aims to test the diagnostic use of ultrasound, and investigate the effectiveness of both UTI and VAMs for the treatment of SSDs associated with submucous cleft palate (SMCP). Method: Using a single-subject multiple baseline design, two males with repaired SMCP, Andrew (aged 9;2) and Craig (aged 6;2), received six assessment sessions and two blocks of therapy, following a motor-based therapy approach, using VAMs and UTI. Three methods were used to measure therapy outcomes. Firstly, percent target consonant correct scores, derived from phonetic transcriptions provide outcomes comparable to those used in typical practice. Secondly, a multiplephonetically trained listener perceptual evaluation, using a two-alternative multiple forced choice design, to measure listener agreement provides a more objective measure. Thirdly, articulatory analysis, using qualitative and quantitative measures provides an additional perspective able to reveal covert errors. Results and Conclusions: There was overall improvement in the speech for both speakers, with a greater rate of change in therapy block one (VAMs) and listener agreement in the perceptual evaluation. Articulatory analysis supplemented phonetic transcriptions and detected covert articulations and covert contrast as well as supporting the improvements in auditory outcome scores. Both VAMs and UTI show promise as a clinical tool for the treatment of SSDs associated with CP.

Orientador: Plínio Almeida Barbosa
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Os objetivos deste estudo foram: 1) caracterizar a produção de oclusiva glotal de sujeitos com fissura palatina, a partir da percepção deste fenômeno pelos profissionais da área; 2) comparar as produções de cinco sujeitos sem fissura palatina (Grupo Controle - GC) com as de cinco sujeitos com fissura palatina (Grupo Teste - GT) na produção de laringalização em relação às regiões de fronteira; e 3) avançar no entendimento das articulações compensatórias (AC) e da teoria dos sistemas dinâmicos. O corpus consistiu na leitura de um texto realizada por ambos os grupos. A análise da oclusiva glotal foi realizada após a identificação de sua presença por cinco fonoaudiólogos experientes no diagnóstico e avaliação das AC e/ou disfunção velofaríngea (DVF). Em seguida, para cada produção foi observada a presença de três parâmetros (burst, formantes de transição e laringalização). Foi realizado um experimento de percepção, a partir da manipulação do sinal áudio de um participante do GC. Então, a análise prosódica da laringalização foi realizada. Quanto à análise da oclusiva glotal, os resultados mostraram que a presença de formantes de transição e burst foi determinante para a dúvida dos profissionais. Na ausência destes dois parâmetros, os juízes foram significativamente unânimes em afirmar a presença de oclusiva glotal. A presença de laringalização ajudou os fonoaudiólogos a julgarem a ocorrência da oclusiva glotal. A ocorrência de laringalização para o GC foi maior nas regiões de fronteira prosódica, enquanto que para o GT foi dentro e fora destas regiões. O experimento de percepção revelou um estímulo ambíguo, embora com significância estatística para concordância entre os juízes. A discussão foi norteada pelos pressupostos teóricos da Fonologia Articulatória, derivada do modelo de Browman e Goldstein (1990) e da Fonética Cognitiva de Tatham (1994). Discutiu-se ainda o estado da glote, a partir do conceito de válvulas laríngeas (Edmondson e Esling, 2006). A análise da oclusiva glotal evidenciou dois aspectos: a utilização de diferentes válvulas laríngeas e a proposta de um gesto glotal tripartido. A análise da laringalização sugere falha na supervisão do gesto glotal, o acoplamento da oclusiva glotal e da laringalização, e ação das fronteiras como atratores para as laringalizações
Abstract: The objectives of this study were: 1) to characterize the production of glottal stop of individuals with cleft palate, from the perception of this phenomenon by professionals; 2) to compare the productions of five subjects without cleft palate (Control Group - GC) and five subjects with cleft palate (Test Group - GT) to produce laryngealization in relation to border regions; and 3) improve the understanding of compensatory articulations (AC) and the theory of dynamical systems. The corpus consisted of the reading of the same text by both groups. The analysis of the glottal stop was made after identifying the presence by five speech pathologists (judges) experienced in the diagnosis and assessment of AC and/or velopharyngeal dysfunction (DVF). Then, for each production up to three parameters (burst, formant transition and laryngealization) were observed. A speech perception experiment was conducted after manipulating the audio signal of a participant in the GC. Then, the prosodic analysis of laryngealization was carried out. As regards the glottal stops, the results showed that the presence of burst and formant transition was responsible for ambiguous judgments. When these two parameters were absent, the judges were unanimous in signaling the presence of a glottal stop. The presence of laryngealization helped speech pathologists to identify glottal stop. For GC, the occurrence of laryngealization was in the prosodic boundary while for the GT laryngealization occurred everywhere. The speech perception experiment revealed an ambiguous stimulus, although a statistically significant correlation between the judges. The discussion was guided by theoretical assumptions of Articulatory Phonology, derived from the Browman and Goldstein's (1990) model and Tatham's (1994) Cognitive Phonetics. It was also discussed the state of the glottis, from the concept of laryngeal valves (Edmondson and Esling, 2006). Analysis of the glottal stop emphasizing two aspects: the use of different laryngeal valves and a proposed tripartite glottal gesture. The laryngealization analysis suggests failure of the supervisor component of the glottal gesture, the glottal stop and laryngealization coupling and the boundary regions as attractors for laryngealization
Doutorado
Linguistica
Doutor em Linguística

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Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq
This Thesis presents an acoustic-phonetic analysis of the oral and nasal vowels of Brazilian Portuguese, specifically those of the speech community of Fortaleza dos Nogueiras, Maranhão and European Portuguese, in some speech data from the region of Lisbon, Portugal. The theoretical foundation is sustained on the postulates of Camara Jr. (1970 ), Mateus (1982), de Morais Barbosa (1994) and Moraes and Wetzels (1992), concerning nasality in Portuguese, especially in Brazilian Portuguese. The theoretical framework of Acoustic Phonetics is composed mainly by the work of Ladefoged (2003, 2006 and 2007), Ladefoged, Johnson (2008), Mateus et al. (2005), Delgado-Martins (1988), Morais Barbosa (1994), Malmberg (1998), Medeiros (2007), Medeiros et al. (2008) and Sousa, E. (1994). The informants used as subjects in this research, both Brazilian and Portuguese, are people with low education, low turnover, 50 years of age or older. The Brazilian informants were born and lived most of their lives in rural Fortaleza dos Nogueiras; the Portuguese live in the outskirts of Lisbon. The speech data in Brazil are a result of our field research conducted in 2011. The data from Portugal were provided by the Instituto de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa and form part of the speech collection of ALEPG (Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Portugal and Galicia). The acoustic-phonetic analysis of the data is made through the program of Speech Station by Sensimetrics for visualization of expectograms and to extract measurements of F1 and F2. We present the values of formants 1 and 2 of the oral and nasal vowels and these are compared in order to show what happens with the nasal vowel in relation to the corresponding oral; we highlight the acoustical characteristics of oral and nasal vowels; we show the articulatory triangle of vowels of the informants of the research highlighting the contours the vowels assume in articulation and the frequency bands in which each vowel stands. Finally, we carry out a comparative investigation of oral and nasal vowels in these two varieties of Portuguese.
Este trabalho apresenta uma análise fonético-acústica das vogais orais e nasais do português brasileiro, mais especificamente da comunidade de fala de Fortaleza dos Nogueiras, Maranhão e do português europeu, em alguns dados de fala da região de Lisboa, Portugal. O embasamento teórico pauta-se nos postulados de Camara Jr. (1970), de Mateus (1982), de Morais Barbosa (1994) e de Moraes e Wetzels (1992), acerca da nasalidade na língua portuguesa, especialmente, no português brasileiro. O referencial teórico de Fonética Acústica compõe-se, principalmente, pelos trabalhos de Ladefoged (2003, 2006 e 2007), Ladefoged; Jonhson (2008), Mateus et al. (2005), Delgado-Martins (1988), Morais Barbosa (1994), Malmberg (1998), Medeiros (2007), Medeiros et al. (2008) e Sousa, E. (1994). Os informantes sujeitos desta pesquisa, tanto brasileiros como portugueses, são pessoas com baixa escolaridade, baixa rotatividade, que têm a partir de 50 anos de idade. Os brasileiros nasceram e viveram a maior parte de suas vidas na zona rural de Fortaleza dos Nogueiras; os portugueses são moradores do entorno de Lisboa. Os dados de fala do Brasil são resultado de nossa pesquisa de campo realizada em 2011. Os de Portugal foram-nos cedidos pelo Instituto de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa e fazem parte do acervo de fala do ALEPG (Atlas Linguístico e Etnográfico de Portugal e da Galiza). A análise fonético-acústica dos dados é feita por meio do programa Speech Station da Sensimetrics, para a visualização dos expectogramas e para a extração das medidas de F1 e de F2. Apresentam-se os valores dos formantes 1 e 2 das vogais orais e nasais e estes são comparados com o intuito de mostrar o que acontece com a vogal nasal em relação à correspondente oral; evidenciam-se quais as características acústicas das vogais orais e nasais; apresenta-se o triângulo articulatório das vogais desses informantes da pesquisa com evidência para os contornos que elas assumem na articulação e para as faixas de frequência em que cada vogal se posiciona. Por fim, realiza-se uma investigação comparativa das vogais orais e nasais nessas duas variedades da língua portuguesa.

This thesis examines the occurrence of Canadian Raising in Manitoba, using acoustic-spectral analysis. Factors such as lexical frequency and morphological complexity are examined to determine their role in Canadian Raising production within the sample population. One of the key findings is that what are usually analyzed as “raised” phones in pre-voiceless context are considerably shorter than non-raised (pre-voiced) phones, but do not exhibit substantial differences in terms of vowel quality. A method of multiple-timepoint spectral analysis used to achieve this finding is described in detail. Examination of raising-like diphthongs before /ɹ/ indicates that vowel duration differences exist in different contexts. There is some indication that morphological complexity is related to variants of “raised” phones, such that complex morphology is correlated with longer duration.

This dissertation investigates articulatory characteristics of English /I/ in child speech. The study is primarily based on experimental data collected using ultrasound imaging techniques from eight English children ages 3;11 to 5;9. Replicating previous articulatory studies of syllable-based allophones of /I/ in adult speech production, the articulatory components of III in child speech production are analyzed for the static information and relative timing between tongue movements. Secondarily, the acoustic analysis of this data and its perception judgments by adults are presented.' One of the major findings of this study is that children at these ages produce /I/ using different spatial and temporal coordination than adult speech production, although some children produce /I/ more similar to adult /I/ in terms of articulatory organization. Further, the findings are addressed in relation to speech motor development, and hypotheses are tested to see which motor developmental process(es) (differentiation, integration, refinement) can describe the acquisition of /I/. The ultrasound results of the tongue movements in children's /I/ indicate that all general motor developmental processes are active in these children, and the spatial and temporal coordination of the articulatory gestures of /I/ is rather simplified or modified, and needs to be further refined. I argue that the tendency toward late acquisition of /I/ is due directly to the articulatory complexity of its spatial and temporal characteristics. This work contributes much-needeid empirical data of the articulatory characteristics of /I/ to both language acquisition and speech sciences and constitutes a novel application of ultrasound imaging to child speech research. Organization of this dissertation is as follows. Subsequent to the overall introduction of the study in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 presents the empirical background and hypotheses for the study. It reviews speech and developmental studies in production and perception conducted by other researchers, and proposes empirical questions. Chapter 3 provides the methodology for the study. It introduces ultrasound techniques and experiment design and procedure. Chapter 4 presents the results of the spatial characteristics of the children's /I/ in terms of number of gestures, tongue shape, constriction location, and allophonic variation with respect to different syllable positions. Chapter 5 discusses the results of the temporal characteristics of the children's /I/ gestures. Inter-gestural timing of allophones of /I/ is examined to determine whether timing distinguishes positional allophones in these children's speech. Chapter 6 provides post-experiment perception judgments made by adults, and acoustic analysis of samples of tokens used in the current study. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the results and discusses the implications of the dissertation.
Arts, Faculty of
Linguistics, Department of
Graduate

This thesis documents the creation of a three-dimensional model of the larynx. The focus is on synthesizing the movement and appearance of laryngeal and pharyngeal sounds, with the intention of elucidating the physiological performance required of the larynx to produce these articulations. The model serves three primary purposes: the analysis of laryngeal articulation, an interactive tool for learning about linguistically relevant anatomy, and a foundation for future modeling developments such as acoustic synthesis. There are two methodological topics of discussion concerning the techniques used to generate the three-dimensional model of the larynx. The first concerns the morphological aspect of the laryngeal architecture. Laryngeal structures were segmented from a series of histological images using a process known as vertex tracing to generate wire-frame computer representations, or meshes, of the laryngeal structures featured in the model. The meshes were then carefully placed within the three-dimensional space used to generate a scene of the larynx that could be rendered and presented to the user of the program. Frame hierarchies, an organization scheme for vertices, were imposed on flexible tissue meshes to attach and manipulate various moving structures found in the larynx. Finally, basic mechanical features of laryngeal movement derived from research into the biomechanics of laryngeal physiology were implemented. The second methodological topic pertains to the analysis of laryngoscopic videos to obtain data that describes the movement patterns used to generate the laryngeal and pharyngeal articulations of interest. There are three image analysis techniques applied to the laryngoscopy. The first uses normal speed laryngoscopy to assess end-state articulations, by comparing various geometrical aspects of laryngeal landmarks as they differ between the maximally open setting (used for deep inspiration), and the articulatory target setting. With this technique, various phonation types and segmental articulations are assessed using videos of a phonetician carefully performing the articulations. Some comparison of these articulations to their analogues in the speech of native speakers from various languages is made for the sake of illustration and verification. The second image analysis technique used is applied to high-speed laryngoscopic video of aryepiglottic trilling, which is an important function of the laryngeal constrictor mechanism. The left and right aryepiglottic apertures during trilling are analyzed using binary-conversion and area measurement. The third technique takes the same high-speed laryngoscopic video of aryepiglottic trilling and extracts motion vectors between frame pairs to characterize the directionality and magnitude of motion occurring for each of the folds. Using the image analysis data, model movements are constrained and synchronized to recreate the articulations observed in the laryngoscopic videos. One of the major innovations of this model is a biomechanical simulation of aryepiglottic fold trilling, based primarily upon the data collected from the high-speed laryngoscopic videos. Overall the model represents one of the first attempts to visually recreate laryngeal articulatory function in a way that is dynamic and interactive. Future work will involve dynamic acoustic synthesis for laryngeal states represented by the model.

This dissertation examines the relationship between phonetic sound and content in Latin poetry, with a focus on Books 1-3 of Horace's Odes. The central argument is that a relationship exists between sound and content in poetry, that this can be analysed and described more thoroughly and systematically than is usually the case, and that the appreciation of poetry can be enhanced by doing so. Part 1 presents a scheme for describing the sound-content relationship, and argues that this accurately reflects the perceptions of poetic audiences and is psychologically valid. The scheme begins with the concept of the 'sonance', defined as any set of sounds that renders a passage sonically noteworthy. Sonances that relate to content are classified either as 'harmonic sonances', which relate to content due to the properties of the relevant sounds, or 'repetitive sonances', which relate to content purely due to the repetition (including patterning or contrasting) of sounds, regardless of their properties. Harmonic sonances, it is argued, may relate to content through four 'harmonies', depending on whether acoustic or articulatory properties are involved and whether the relationship is one of similarity between property and content or a more distant 'metaphor'. Repetitive sonances may relate to content by several different means, or 'modes of repetition'. Part 2 presents a simple method of numerical analysis which may be applied to the text by computer to extract passages that are relatively likely to contain a sonance, and briefly discusses the process of assessing these results, identifying further sonances by more natural means, and relating each sonance to the relevant content. As an essential preliminary to such matters, Latin phonetics and phonology are also discussed in detail. Parts 3 and 4 present the results of applying these resources of assessment and description to the text, to demonstrate the type of poetic appreciation which may thus be gained. Part 3 consists of two catalogues of harmonic and repetitive sonances taken from the whole of Odes 1-3. Part 4 is a specific examination of two entire odes in much greater detail.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Humanities, 2004.

Stops are one of the most common sounds across languages of the world. Among these pervasive sounds, ejectives form a unique group that is distinguishable from other types of stops. Their particular mechanism of articulation, such as larynx raising and unusually high oral pressure, separates them from the others. More interestingly, a listener perceives them differently and makes a distinction from non-ejective, or pulmonic, stops. What is it that we perceive when hearing ejectives? Do we perceive certain acoustic cues or auditory qualities that are part of their distinctive phonetic nature? Are these phonetic characteristics always distinctive? In other words, is our perception of the ejectives always consistent without any variation at the phonetic level? Motivated by these questions and from my recent exposure to Tsilhqut’in ejectives, I set out to pursue a phonetic investigation of these intriguing sounds. The present study is composed of two main analyses. One is an acoustic analysis that instrumentally examines a dataset of ejective and non-ejective stops in the Tsilhqut’in language with respect to acoustic dimensions such as Voice Onset Time (VOT) in order to compare all the stop classes in terms of their acoustic properties. Such a comparison helps to phonetically characterize the ejectives within the language. The acoustic measures also enable us to compare the characteristics of Tsilhqut’in ejectives with those in other languages, based on previously reported acoustic correlates. In order to determine the characteristics of ejectives across languages, Tsilhqut’in ejectives were compared with ejectives in different languages (e.g., Inguish). The other analysis is auditory, whereby I have examined how I perceived a subset of the ejectives taken out of the whole dataset and compared my auditory judgments with the acoustic measurements in order to find any correlation between results from the two analyses. The findings of the study indicate that Tsilhqut’in ejectives do not follow a traditional binary typology of ejectives. That is, they are neither strong nor weak, as is often claimed in the literature. They are congruent with what recent studies (e.g., Warner 1996) have found of ejectives in other languages – phonetic variability. This means that the dichotomy cannot account for the variability in ejectives at the phonetic level and that an optimal way of classifying ejectives across languages still awaits discovery. To the best of my knowledge, no other phonetic study has been conducted on Tsilhqut’in ejectives prior to the current study. Moreover, there has been little research or documentation carried out on any other phonetic aspects or sounds of this Athabaskan language. I expect that this instrumental study will contribute to the field of linguistics by adding new phonetic knowledge about such a rarely studied language, and I also expect the present study to play a role in the understanding of language learning and of language revitalization around the world.