This paper presents a four-subject study that examines the relative influence of syllable position and stress, together with vowel context on the colouring of the dark-l characteristic of speakers of General American English. Most investigators report lighter /l/ tokens in syllable onsets and darker tokens in coda positions. The present study demonstrates that when dark-l serves as an onset in iambic intervocalic context with tautosyllabic high front vowels, it is fully dark as a result of domain-initial strengthening. By contrast, when dark-l is abutted across a word boundary to word-final or word-initial consonants, or when it is contained in a foot-internal context (preboundary intervocalic rime with trochaic stress) its dorsal gesture is constrained, resulting in less dark tokens. In the case of dark-l, articulatory undershoot must be understood not only in terms of the alveolar gesture, but also the dorsal gesture.
This paper investigates the applicability of the soft phonation index (SPI) as an indicator of vocal fold adduction. The SPI is one of 33 acoustic parameters calculated and displayed from a single vocalization by the multi-dimensional voice program (MDVP). A review of pertinent literature revealed that while increased values of SPI are presumed to be associated with incomplete adduction of the vocal folds, results should be interpreted cautiously as the index has not been sufficiently studied. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine how consistently SPI tracks systematic changes in vocal fold adduction. Samples of normal, breathy and pressed phonation produced by female speakers were analysed. As predicted, a significant increase in SPI for breathy productions was demonstrated. However, increases in SPI were also noted for pressed phonation. Possible explanations and implications for clinical application are discussed.
This paper presents a single-subject case study illustrating the need to closely examine effects of dialect from syllable position on l-colouring, and the effects of domain-initial strengthening in General American English. Most investigators report lighter /l/ tokens in syllable onsets and darker tokens in coda positions in isolated words. The present study demonstrates an enhanced darkened onset /l/ in front vowel prosodic word (PW) boundaries, but lighter codas at PW-internal boundaries. We address the importance for clinicians of recognizing the impact of prosody on restructuring syntactic boundaries and its consequent effects on /l/ articulation.
This perceptual study describes changes in how listeners perceive VCV elements within successive truncations taken from an iambic phrase containing /l/ (e.g. a leaf, or a load) spoken by four male speakers of General American English. Evidence of the respective roles of dorsal gestural affiliation between /l/ and the reduced vowel, (V(1)CV(2)), and gestural separation from a tautosyllabic high front vowel (V(2)) were demonstrated. Coproduction of dark-l with a preceding reduced vowel was evident in early reports of back vowels or diphthongs, particularly when the carrier word contained a front vowel, and was noted more in darker-l than lighter-l speakers. The pairing of /l/ with a tautosyllabic front vowel reduced earlier identification of /l/, whereas its pairing with a back vowel enhanced early identification. The role of perceived contrast in identification of /l/ was reflected in changes in listener's perception of the reduced vowel across successive truncations. Clinical implications are addressed.
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