Electromagnetic articulography as a tool in the study of lingual coarticulation

Abstract

Two recent papers [Schönle et al., Biomedizinische Technik 34, 126–130 (1989) and Shao et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 86, S115 (1989)] have evaluated a commercially available electromagnetic system for articulatory measurements, the articulograph AG-100. The present investigation includes some complementary methodological studies followed by an analysis of vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in German speakers. Within the first area, discussion focuses on the problems encountered and the solutions chosen in adapting the system for large-scale data collection, relevant topics including sample rates, noise, extension of the standard calibration procedures, detection of corrupted data by means of appropriate control tasks, and synchronization with audio recordings. Preliminary work in the second area suggested that the spatial magnitude of vocalic carryover effects in VCV sequences exceeded that of anticipatory effects at the midpoint of the intervening consonants. This will be reviewed in the light of two recent recordings (totaling some 1500 logatomes of the form /bV1CV2/) using three lingual transducers, and one each on upper and lower incisors. Tongue-jaw interactions, as well as the problem of defining analysis points in lingual trajectories, will be discussed. [Work supported by ESPRIT/BRA.]