Acoustic Cues to Consonant Place of Articulation

Question 1

formant transitions

Answer 1

regions of relatively rapid formant movement that indicate rapid movement of the articulators

Question 2

F1 transition

Answer 2

always move downward as you look from the vowel toward the consonant

Question 3

bilabial consonants

Answer 3

F2 moves downward as the bilabial constriction is formed and upward as it is released

Question 4

velar consonants

Answer 4

F2 tends to move towards F3 forming a “velar pitch”

Question 5

Center of gravity

Answer 5

the average frequency of the spectrum, weighted by the amplitude of the noise at different frequencies

Question 6

Standard deviation

Answer 6

the dispersion of energy around the center of gravity

Question 7

skewness

Answer 7

the degree to which the energy on either side of the COG is distributed symmetrically or asymmetrically.

Question 8

Kurtosis

Answer 8

the degree to which the noise spectrum is flat or shows clearly defined peaks

Question 9

Voice onset time with stop consonants

Answer 9

Increases in duration as you move from front of mouth to back

Question 10

bilabial stops

Answer 10

the burst spectrum tends to be flat or falling and to have no noticeable peaks

Question 11

alveolar stops

Answer 11

burst spectrum tends to rise gradually.

Question 12

Velar stops

Answer 12

burst spectrum tends to have peaks in teh region of F1 and F2 for the adjacent vowel. Described as “compact” spectrum.