Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Speech Science > 2.07 - Vowels > Flashcards

2.07 - Vowels Flashcards

0
Q

Vowel are perceptually _______. What does this mean?

A

Salient

Vowels are typically the most intense portion of a syllable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
1
Q

Vowels are the only speech sounds produced with a relatively _______.

A

Open vocal tract

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

American English vowels are typically _______.

A

Voiced

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the four features of vowels?

A

Tongue height (low to high)

Tongue backness (front to back)

Lip Rounding (yes or no)

Tenseness (tense vs. lax)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Tense vowels tend to be associated with ______ extreme tongue position than lax vowels and tend to be _______ in duration.

A

More

Longer

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Are tense vowels usually in open or closed syllables?

A

Either

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Lax vowels tend to be associated with ______ extreme tongue position than tense vowels and tend to be ______ in duration.

A

Less

Shorter

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Lax vowels are typically limited to ______ syllables.

A

Closed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What concerns vowels more: the source or the shape?

A

The shape

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Formants are concentrations of _______ in the spectrum that correspond to the _________.

A

Energy

Vocal tract resonance frequencies

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What formant has the lowest frequency concentration?

A

F1

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What formants are usually needed for vowel recognition?

A

F1

F2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Typically, ________ have larger bandwidths.

A

Higher formants

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Formant transitions indicate ______.

A

Articulatory changes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

F1 is inversely related with _______. The higher the vowel, the ______ the F1.

A

Tongue height

Lower

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

F1 is responsive to changes in the _______. (_______ openings result in lower F1)

A

Mouth opening

Small

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

F2 is related to _______. F2 goes ______ as the tongue moves forward.)

A

Tongue advancement

Up

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

F2 is responsive to changes in the ________.

_______ and ______ lower F2.

A

Size of the oral cavity

Backing

Lip rounding

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

F1, F2, F3, & F4 are generally lowered by _________.

A

Lip rounding

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the primary cue that overcomes the lack of invariance problem?

A

F1 & F2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What are the two secondary cues that overcome the lack of invariance problem?

A

Vowel duration (short or long)

Intensity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Does vowel pitch help overcome the lack of invariance problem?

A

No

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Do F1 & F2 frequencies vary from speaker to speaker?

A

Yes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

F3 stays pretty ______.

A

Constant

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

If you had a hearing loss between 2500-3000 Hz, would it affect your ability to hear the “6 American English vowels and their formants”?

A

No

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

A hearing loss below _______ Hz would not prevent you from hearing the vowel specifically but they will still sound different because you will be missing information.

A

1500 Hz

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Are all vowels extremely different from each other?

2

A

No

Some vowels are more similar to others but are still easily distinguished

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What are the four potential acoustic cues in vowel perception?

A

Static Properties

Dynamic Properties

Intrinsic-Relational Properties

Extrinsic-Relational Properties

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What are Static Properties of Vowel Perception?

3

A

Steady-state formant frequencies

Fundamental phonetic environment

(Surrounding sounds, speaking rate)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What are Dynamic Properties of Vowel Perception?

2

A

Inherent spectral change

Consonantal context effects (relative to vowel amplification)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What are Intrinsic-Relational Properties of Vowel Perception?

(2)

A

Intra-Segmental

Relations among the fundamental and formant frequencies within vowels

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

What are Extrinsic Relational Properties of Vowel Perception?

(3)

A

Transsegmental

Relative vowel duration

Relative formant frequencies of a vowel (as compared to other vowels produced by the same speaker)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Tense vowels tend to be _______ than lax vowels.

A

Longer

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

If you don’t track the rate of speech then you cannot use ______ as a speech cue.

A

Duration

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

Generally low vowels (those produced lower in the mouth) are ______ intense than high vowels.

A

More

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

Typically lower vowels have _____ F0.

36
Q

Who has the highest intrinsic vowel pitch? Who has the lowest?

A

Children

Men

37
Q

Intrinsic pitch gives us insight into _____ and _____.

A

Gender

Age

38
Q

Does intrinsic vowel pitch seem to play a role in speech perception?q

39
Q

What can intrinsic vowel pitch be used for?

A

To see if a deaf child is making the right speech movements

40
Q

Intrinsic Pitch for Vowels shows us _____ position.

41
Q

What are the two theories of Vowel Perception?

A

Intrinsic Factor Theories

Extrinsic Factor Theories

42
Q

Where do Intrinsic Factor Theories look for information?

A

In the vowel itself

43
Q

According to Intrinsic Factor Theories, what three things may determine vowel identity?

A

Single formant frequencies

Ranges of formant frequencies

Ratios of formant frequencies

44
Q

Where do Extrinsic Factor Theories look for information?

A

Outside the vowel

45
Q

According to Extrinsic Factor Theories, what three things may determine vowel identity?

A

“Normalizing” using the point vowels

“Estimating” the speaker’s vocal tract (to determine vowel pitch)

Using formant transitions of consonants

46
Q

Can a single, unique formant frequency determine vowel identity? Why?

A

No.

Formants can and will change between speakers

47
Q

Can ranges of formant frequencies determine vowel identity? Why?

A

Sometimes but this is not trustworthy

Some vowels have unique ranges but others have more overlap

48
Q

Can ratios of formant frequencies determine vowel identity? Why?

A

No.

This is only clear in the front vowels. Back & Mid vowels are more similar and overlap

49
Q

What are three difficulties to using only formants to determine vowel identity?

A

There is great variability between formant values and ranges

There are overlapping areas in formant ranges

This ignores other factors that may also give us clues

50
Q

What are three difficulties in only using Formant Ratios in determining vowel identity?

A

Variability

Male, female, and children’s vocal tracts are not scale models of each other

This ignores other cues that may exist

51
Q

The distance from an average male’s glottis to velum is _____ cm.

52
Q

The distance from an average female’s glottis to velum is _____ cm.

53
Q

The distance from an average male’s pharyngeal wall to incisors is _____ cm.

54
Q

The distance from an average female’s pharyngeal wall to incisors is _____ cm.

55
Q

What are the difficulties in only using Formant Ratios with F0?

A

Variability

Ignores other relevant factors

56
Q

Vowels vary along ______ dimensions.

57
Q

What are the three dimensions in which vowels vary?

A

X = log(SF3/SF2)

Y = log(SF1/SR)

Z = log(SF2/SF1)

58
Q

What is SR? What is it’s value?

A

Sensory Reference

168

59
Q

What is the Tetrahedron?

A

A three axis graph that looks at the three dimensions of vowels

60
Q

What was the extrinsic example given in lecture?

A

That the same symbol can look like “B” of “13” depending on whether it’s in “A __ C” or “12 __ 14”

61
Q

Do Formant Ratios with F0 solve the lack of invariance problem?

62
Q

Extrinsic perception changes according to what ______.

A

You expect

63
Q

Are Formant Ranges and Formant Ratio theories intrinsic or extrinsic?

64
Q

Is the Vocal Tract Normalization theory intrinsic or extrinsic?

65
Q

What is the Vocal Tract Normalization?

A

Listeners estimate/infer the speaker’s vocal tract

This is used to normalize informations to perceive the correct vowel

66
Q

What stimuli did the Vocal Tract Normalization use?

A

A vowel sandwiched in between /b/ and /t/

67
Q

What happened in the Vocal Tract Normalization experiment? What happened?

A

F1 was shifted down (to stimulate a larger vocal tract)

????

68
Q

In a word, the preceding sound affects the ______ of the ________.

A

Interpretation

Current sound

69
Q

What is the Point Vowel Normalization theory?

A

That listeners calibrate vowels based on the location of the point (corner) vowels (/i/, /u/, /ɑ/)

70
Q

Why are point vowels so imporant?

A

They are more stable

71
Q

Did Liberman & Gerstman find a significant difference in our ability to interpret a vowel when point vowels were provided?

72
Q

When did Liberman & Gerstman find a significant difference in our ability to interpret a vowel?

A

When all the speaker’s vowels (entire inventory) were presented together

73
Q

What are the three point vowels?

A

/i/

/u/

/ɑ/

74
Q

What is the Dynamic Specification Model theory?

A

We consider all the various cues

75
Q

What are the various cues of Dynamic Specification Model?

A

Control

Silent centers

Centers alone

Initial portions

Final portions

Abutted syllables

76
Q

What is the Control Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

77
Q

What is the Silent Center Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

78
Q

What is the Centers Alone Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

79
Q

What is the Initial Portion Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

80
Q

What is the Final Portion Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

81
Q

What is the Abutted Syllable Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

A

C C

The Vowel is cut out and Consonants are moved together

82
Q

In the Dynamic Specification Model, which two conditions produced the smallest amount of errors?

A

Control Syllables

Silent Centers

83
Q

What are the four cues that are important to speech perception?

A

Static Properties

Dynamic Properties

Intrinsic (Intra-Segmental) Relational Properties

Extrinsic (Transsegmental) Relational Properties

84
Q

What are Static Properties?

2

A

Steady state formant frequencies

Fundamental phonetic environment

85
Q

What are Dynamic Properties?

3

A

Inherent spectral changes

Consonantal context effects

Relative vowel amplitude

86
Q

What are Intrinsic (Intra-Segmental) Relational Properties?

A

Relations among fundamental & formant frequencies within vowels

87
Q

What are Extrinsic (Transsegmental) Relational Properties?

2

A

Vowel duration

Formant frequencies of a vowel compared to those of other vowels from the same speaker

Speech Science (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions