Tongue movement and syllable onset complexity: ultrasound study

Abstract

In this study ultrasound was used to investigate tongue movements in syllables with different number and type of onset consonants. Ultrasound recordings provided the information of the distance the tongue travels over a target, and audio recordings of the time needed. The speed of tongue’s travel was calculated from the two measurements. Results of ten speakers have shown that both duration and distance travelled increase with an increased number of onset segments, but that distance travelled is additionally influenced by the type of the segment, as is speed. Duration also seemed to be the least speaker-dependant of the three parameters.