Exam 4. Vowels.Consonants.Spectrograms

Question 1

Define articulation.

Answer 1

Movements of the tongue, pharynx, velum, lips, and jaw.

Question 2

Define resonance.

Answer 2

The acoustic response of air molecules with one’s oral, nasal, and pharyngeal cavities in response to some sound source such as the vocal folds.

Question 3

What does it mean to say the vocal tract is a variable resonator and sound source?

Answer 3

1. Able to change the frequencies at which the pharynx, oral, and nasal cavities resonate.
2. V.T. is an acoustic resonator (meets all qualifications). It is open at one end and closed at the other and is also air filled.

Question 4

Larger resonators resonate at ______ frequencies.

Answer 4

lower

Question 5

Smaller resonators resonate at _______ frequencies.

Answer 5

higher

Question 6

What structure allows the vocal tract to be a variable resonator?

Answer 6

The tongue -

When you have tongue high and forward - creates a much smaller space in oral cavity and much larger space for pharynx.

Question 7

What is vocal tract resonance?

Answer 7

How changing the position of your tongue results in a change in resonance that’s perceived as vowel sounds.

Question 8

Where does resonance of the vocal tract occur?

Answer 8

Above the level of the vocal folds.

Question 9

What makes one hear the richness of the human voice?

Answer 9

The resonance caused by the vibrating vocal folds.

Question 10

Define resonator.

Answer 10

An object that is set into vibration by something other than itself.

Question 11

The vocal folds cause what tissues to resonate?

Answer 11

Cause the air and tissues in pharynx, oral cavity and sometimes nasal cavity to vibrate.

Question 12

The relationship between the two frequencies of resonance are what the auditory system uses to tell if you said /i/ or /a/.

Answer 12

Just read the description and know it.

Question 13

What is F1?

Answer 13

The resonance of anyone’s pharyngeal cavity - just above the level of the vocal folds. This is the first part of your vocal tract set into resonance.

Question 14

What is F2?

Answer 14

The resonating frequency of your oral cavity.

Question 15

What type of vowel is /i/?

Answer 15

A high-front vowel

Question 16

What does high-front in terms of tongue position mean (3)?

Answer 16

1. The tongue is high in the mouth and very far forward.
2. Whole back of the tongue is out of the pharynx, filling the mouth (oral cavity) which makes the pharynx larger (larger things resonate at lower frequencies).
3. /i/ is a high-front vowel

Question 17

What do the darker lines indicate on a spectrogram?

Answer 17

The darker the lines are within the spectrogram, the louder the frequencies are.

Question 18

Compare and contrast the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/ in terms of their tongue positions.

Answer 18

See written out piece of paper.

Question 19

What type of vowel is /a/?

Answer 19

/a/ is a low-back vowel

Question 20

What does low–back mean in terms of tongue position?

Answer 20

Tongue is low in the mouth and pushed slightly back toward the pharynx. Therefore, the tongue is taking up more room in the pharynx than the oral cavity, making the pharynx a smaller pharyngeal resonator.

Question 21

What type of vowel is /u/?

Answer 21

/u/ is a high-back vowel

Question 22

What does high-back mean in terms of tongue position?

Answer 22

The tongue is high in the mouth (oral cavity) but towards the back of the mouth (due to its height in the mouth, it is completely out of the pharynx).

Question 23

For /u/, one has a much larger ______ but a much smaller ______.

Answer 23

Pharynx, oral cavity

Question 24

Since /u/ is a high-back vowel, the height of the tongue allows what?

Answer 24

Space for a lot of air to be set into vibration in front of the tongue in the oral cavity.

Question 25

Describe what the oral cavity is like (i.e. where the tongue is) for /u/.

Answer 25

The tongue is high in the oral cavity. The lips are slightly protruded and rounded which results in a slightly larger oral cavity. The entire V.T. is lengthened by slightly protruding and rounding the lips. Thus, this lengthening results in a lowering of oral cavity resonance.

Question 26

What is the vocal tract composed of?

Answer 26

1. Oral cavity
2. Pharyngeal cavity
3. Nasal cavity (for the 3 nasals)

These constitute your acoustic resonator.

Question 27

How do the vibrating vocal folds contribute to resonance?

Answer 27

They produce the force that causes the air and the tissues in the pharynx, oral cavity, and the nasal cavity (for the nasals) to be set into resonance (vibration).

Question 28

What parameters is the Stevens and House Model based on?

Answer 28

1. The location of the tongue - It is where the tongue is in your mouth that changes the resonance of the vocal tract that allows you to produce vowel sounds as well as different diphthongs.
2. The amount of lip protrusion - whether or not there is any lip protrusion.
3. Based on a cross section - can see in profile the mouth, oral cavity, and the tongue.

Question 29

What type of function are the vocal folds considered to be? Why?

Answer 29

Source function - B/C they are source of force causing the resonance above them.

Question 30

Describe the source function and transfer function using the figure in the book.

Answer 30

See notes.

Question 31

Describe how the human vocal tract is a little bit different than any other acoustic resonator.

Answer 31

1. V.T. is a variable resonator - it can resonate differently - it doesn’t always resonate at 5, 15, and 25 for a male. It can resonate differently b/c you’re changing the size (not so much the shape but the sizes of the resonating cavities (pharynx and oral).
2. Change the sizes of the oral and pharyngeal cavities by where the tongue is in your mouth and pharynx.

Question 32

What does the vowel quadrilateral represent?

Answer 32

Where one’s tongue is in the oral cavity.

Question 33

Areas of resonance which are represented by darker lines are called?

Answer 33

Formants

Question 34

Looking at the spectrogram drawn in class, what does F1 represent for /i/? What does it tell us?

Answer 34

1.