Linguistics 580
General Phonetics

Gestural Timing Diagrams

Part A.

(1) It is possible to gather important information about the temporal organization of gestures by simply looking at the acoustic waveform of an utterance. While it is not possible to observe the continuous movement of the oral constrictors, velum, glottis and larynx, it is possible to identify the point in time at which the changes in one of these constrictors is substantial enough to cause the acoustic output to shift to a different state. For example:

• When one of the oral constrictors forms a complete closure, amplitude is suddenly sharply reduced in the waveform, as sound is no longer propagated out the mouth (constrictor closed). At release of the closure, amplitude suddenly rises (constrictor open).
• During a voiced closure, amplitude is very low (velum closed). When the velum lowers substantially enough so that sound can escape through the noise, amplitude abruptly increases (velum open).
• When the glottis is widely abducted, noise can appear in the acoustic signal, and under the right conditions, periodic vibrations can cease.
• When the glottis closes tightly, there is complete silence in the acoustic waveform.

(2) The nine utterances below are all produced with a single labial constriction, in combination with possible gestures of the velum and glottis. The overall goal of the exercise is to infer as much as you can about the organization of those gestures from the acoustic waveform.

(3) Your first task is to match the transcriptions of the nine utterances above with their waveforms found in the diagams you view (see below). To help you with this, a collection of Praat files (A.collection) containing recordings of these nine utterances (labeled simply A1-A9) can be downloaded by right-clicking here (or control-clicking on the Mac). Note the numbers A1-A9 do not correspond to the numbers of the diagrams.

(4) Using the waveforms as a guide, complete the timing diagrams under each, indicating the states achieved by the various gestures as a function of time: for the lip constrictor, mark whether it is open or closed; for the velum, whether it is open or closed; for the glottis, whether the vocal folds are apart or close together. Finally, in the bottom panel of each figure, note the overall state of the glottis (voiceless or voiced).

View example diagram

Diagrams for you to complete: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

(1) The utterances below begin with a complex constellation of consonant gestures, including oral constriction gestures (labial, coronal, or dorsal stops), velum lowering and raising gestures, glottal gestures (opening, narrowing, tight closure), and larynx gestures (raising, lowering).

(2) Do the same matching and timing diagrams for these utterances as you did for the utterances in Part A. Sound files (B.collection) can be downloaded here.

Note:

For larynx raising and lowering, there is no evidence in the waveform as to when these gestures occur. Add them when necessary based on your knowledge of when such raising and lowering must occur, in order to produced the particular consonant.

For the vocal folds and glottal state, note that there is an additional option not present in Part A.

Diagrams for you to complete: 1 2 3