speech Science Forum - Syllable as a synchronization mechanism that makes human speech possible

Speaker: Professor Yi Xu, Department of Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, UCL

To speak we need to shift the states of multiple articulators frequently and rapidly in order to encode as much information as possible. This is a highly demanding multitasking skill that requires fine coordination of all the articulators involved. I will suggest that the syllable is a mechanism evolved to enable such coordination by synchronizing multiple articulatory movements. The coordination involves three separate mechanisms: target approximation, edge synchronization and tactile anchoring. With target approximation, each articulator sequentially executes non-overlapping unidirectional movements toward successive targets. With edge synchronization, multiple articulatory gestures are temporally aligned by their onsets and offsets. And with tactile anchoring, contact sensation during consonant closure provides the temporal references needed for monitoring synchronization. I will present evidence for this synchronization hypothesis, and discuss how it can explain a wide range of speech phenomena, from segmental coarticulation to tonal alignment, and from normal adult production to child speech acquisition. 

Time: 27 October 2016, 1pm

Venue: Room 118, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street

The Speech Science Forum (SSF) is a joint seminar series at UCL organised by the Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences (SHaPS) and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICN).