Un effort phonatoire intense ou prolongé peut causer des lésions des plis vocaux et une dysphonie. L’effort correspond à la perception, par un individu, de la force qu’il déploie pour réaliser une activité, ici la phonation visant à faire vibrer périodiquement les plis vocaux pour produire la voix dans la parole. L’évaluation de cet effort doit donc reposer, au moins, sur deux mesures, l’une perceptive et l’autre physique. Pour développer de telles mesures, il est nécessaire de dissocier l’effort phonatoire de la dysphonie, d’une part, et de l’effort articulatoire, d’autre part. Nous avons réalisé des expériences chez un grand nombre de sujets sains, en faisant varier l’effort phonatoire. Nous avons comparé les consonnes voisées et non voisées, ainsi que la parole vocale modale usuelle et non usuelle, c’est-à-dire différant par l’intensité, la hauteur et la qualité de la voix. Nous avons testé une mesure d’auto-perception de l’effort dans des comparaisons de syllabes par paires : le taux de difficulté ressenti pendant la production des consonnes voisées, par rapport aux non voisées. Le score moyen s’élevait à 22 sur 36, soit 61 pourcents. Nous avons aussi adapté une mesure acoustique de l’effort phonatoire : la fréquence fondamentale relative (RFFa). Les valeurs de RFFa, notamment à l’initiation de la voyelle post-consonantique, étaient plus basses, indiquant un effort plus important, pour les consonnes voisées que pour les non voisées et pour la voix forte-aigüe-pressée que pour la voix usuelle. Ces valeurs étaient cohérentes avec les mesures aérodynamiques réalisées. Nous avons également appliqué les deux mesures développées à des patients, dont nous présentons les cas. / An intense or prolonged phonatory effort can induce vocal fold lesions and dysphonia. The effort corresponds to the perception, by an individual, of the exertion to perform an activity, here the phonation aiming to create a periodic vibration the vocal folds in order to produce the voice during speech. Therefore, the evaluation of phonatory effort must rely, at least, on two measures, one perceptive and another physical. To develop such measures, it is necessary to dissociate phonatory effort from dysphonia, on the one hand, and from articulatory effort, on the other hand. We have conducted experiments in a large number of healthy subjects, by varying the phonatory effort. We compared voiced and voiceless consonants, as well as usual and unusual modal vocal speech, the last one differing in intensity, pitch, and voice quality. We tested a self-perception measurement in pair comparisons of syllables: the rate of difficulty felt during the production of the voiced consonants, compared to voiceless ones. The average score was 22 out of 36, or 61 percents. We also adapted an acoustic measure of phonatory effort: the relative fundamental frequency (RFFa). The values of RFFa, especially at the initiation of post-consonantal vowels, were lower, indicating a greater effort, for the voiced consonants than for the voiceless ones, and for the loud-high-pressed voice than for the usual voice. These values were consistent with the aerodynamic measurements we made. We also applied the two developed measures to patients and we presented their cases.

This study hypothesizes that the Epenthetic Vowel (EV) that occurs in Spanish consonant clusters, although produced unconsciously, is part of the articulatory plan of the speaker. As part of the plan, the epenthetic vowel occurs more often in the least perceptually recoverable contexts in order to enhance them. To achieve a better understanding of the role of the epenthetic vowel, this study shows that the linguistic and phonotactic contexts condition the occurrence of these vowels. Specifically, it argues that linguistic and phonotactic contexts that are perceptually weak compel a significantly higher occurrence of EVs. The EV was analyzed from both production and perceptual standpoints. The results show that from the production standpoint, the occurrence of the EV is affected by the type of liquid that forms the clusters: in clusters with /r/ the variables that made a statistical contribution were post-tonic position (odds ratio, 4.46), and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 1.42). In the case of clusters with /l/ an EV has a higher probability of occurring in the context of bilabial consonants (odds ratio, 4.19), and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 1.3). As for the effects of speech rate on the duration of EVs, the results show that speech rate accounts for 14% of the variation in an EV’s length. From the standpoint of perception, listening was divided into the tasks of perceptual identification and perceptual discrimination. The results show that the strongest predictor is the interaction voiceless x post-tonic position (odds ratio, 4.8). For the identification of the Cr clusters, the strongest predictor is the context of voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 4.42). Regarding identification of the Cl clusters, the strongest predictors are the tonic position (odds ratio, 1.54) and the labial place of articulation (odds ratio, 1.39). With regard to the discrimination of the Cr clusters, the strongest predictors for perceptual recoverability are the interaction voiceless x post-tonic position (odds ratio, 2.22), and the labial place of articulation (odds ratio, 1.37), while for the Cl cluster, the strongest predictors are the tonic position (odds ratio, 5.83) and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 3).

This study hypothesizes that the Epenthetic Vowel (EV) that occurs in Spanish consonant clusters, although produced unconsciously, is part of the articulatory plan of the speaker. As part of the plan, the epenthetic vowel occurs more often in the least perceptually recoverable contexts in order to enhance them. To achieve a better understanding of the role of the epenthetic vowel, this study shows that the linguistic and phonotactic contexts condition the occurrence of these vowels. Specifically, it argues that linguistic and phonotactic contexts that are perceptually weak compel a significantly higher occurrence of EVs. The EV was analyzed from both production and perceptual standpoints. The results show that from the production standpoint, the occurrence of the EV is affected by the type of liquid that forms the clusters: in clusters with /r/ the variables that made a statistical contribution were post-tonic position (odds ratio, 4.46), and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 1.42). In the case of clusters with /l/ an EV has a higher probability of occurring in the context of bilabial consonants (odds ratio, 4.19), and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 1.3). As for the effects of speech rate on the duration of EVs, the results show that speech rate accounts for 14% of the variation in an EV’s length. From the standpoint of perception, listening was divided into the tasks of perceptual identification and perceptual discrimination. The results show that the strongest predictor is the interaction voiceless x post-tonic position (odds ratio, 4.8). For the identification of the Cr clusters, the strongest predictor is the context of voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 4.42). Regarding identification of the Cl clusters, the strongest predictors are the tonic position (odds ratio, 1.54) and the labial place of articulation (odds ratio, 1.39). With regard to the discrimination of the Cr clusters, the strongest predictors for perceptual recoverability are the interaction voiceless x post-tonic position (odds ratio, 2.22), and the labial place of articulation (odds ratio, 1.37), while for the Cl cluster, the strongest predictors are the tonic position (odds ratio, 5.83) and voiceless consonants (odds ratio, 3).

The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the nature of an optional consonant deletion process, through an articulatory and acoustic study of word-final consonant clusters in Persian. Persian word-final coronal stops are optionally deleted when they are preceded by obstruents or the homorganic nasal /n/. For example, the final clusters in the words /næft/ “oil”, /suχt/ “burnt” and /qæsd/ “intention” are optionally simplified in fast/casual speech, resulting in: [næf], [suχ], and [qæs]. What is not clear from this traditional description is whether the coronal stop is truly deleted, or if a coronal gesture is produced, but not heard, because it is obscured by the adjacent consonants. According to Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990a, 1990b, 1992, 2001), the articulatory gestures of the deleted segments can still exist even if the segments are not heard. In this dissertation, ultrasound imaging was used to determine whether coronal consonant deletion in Persian is categorical or gradient, and the acoustic consequences of cluster simplification were investigated through duration and spectral measures. This phonetic study enables an account for the optional nature of the cluster simplification process. A general phonological account is provided for the simplification of coda clusters with rising sonority, and the acoustic and articulatory investigation focuses on the simplification of clusters with coronal stops. Ten Persian-speaking graduate students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, five male and five female, aged 25-38 participated in the articulatory and acoustic study. Audio and real time ultrasound video recordings were made while subjects had a guided conversation with a native speaker of Persian. 662 tokens of word-final coronal clusters were auditorily classified into unsimplified and simplified according to whether they contained an audible [t]. Singleton coda consonants and singleton /t/s were also captured as controls. The end of the constriction plateau of C1 and beginning of constriction plateau of C3 were used to define a time interval in which to measure the coronal gesture as the vertical distance between the tongue blade and the palate. Smoothing Splines ANOVA was used in a novel way to compare tongue blade height over time across the three conditions. The articulatory results of this study showed that the gestures of the deleted segments are often still present. More specifically, the findings showed that of the clusters that sounded simplified, some truly had no [t] gesture, some had gestural overlap, and some had reduced gestures. In order to explain the optional nature of the simplification process, it is argued that the simplified tokens are the result of two independent mechanisms. Inevitable mechanical and physiological effects generate gesturally reduced and overlapped tokens whereas planned language-specific behaviors driven by phonological rules or abstract cognitive representations result in no [t]-gesture output. The findings of this study support the main arguments presented in Articulatory Phonology regarding the underlying reasons for sound patterns and sound change. The results of this study are further used to examine different sound change models. It is argued that the simplified tokens with totally deleted [t] gesture could be the result of speakers changing their representations based on other people’s gestural overlap. This would be instances of the Choice and Chance categories in Blevins’ (2004) CCC sound change model. The acoustic results did not find any major cues which could distinguish simplified tokens from controls. It is argued that articulatory data should form an integral part of phonetic studies.

The present study adopted Articulatory Phonology as a theoretical framework to investigate the aticulatory timing of English consonant clusters. Both native and non-native (Mandarin ESL learners) speakers’ performances were of interest. An acoustic approach was taken to explore the consonantal overlap in both native and non-native English speakers’ production. Also investigated in the present study were the factors that influence the overlap between consonants. Thirty-one native Mandarin speakers and eight native Canadian English speakers participated in the study. The thirty-one native Mandarin speakers were divided into three proficiency groups according to a pretest which evaluated Mandarin speakers’ English speaking proficiency. The experiment of the study was a reading task. Participants were instructed to put the words ending with the target consonant clusters in four carrier sentences and read them aloud. In total, 256 tokens (20 clusters×2 vowel environments×4 carrier sentences+12 consonants×2 vowel environments×4 carrier sentences) were recorded for each participant. The duration of each segment in the word was measured in the phonetic software, Praat. Three timing ratios: consonant to cluster, cluster to a pair of individual consonants, and cluster to rime were calculated. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed significant effect for place of articulation and manner of articulation on the articulatory timing of English consonant clusters in the coda position. Meanwhile, voicing feature, as an unexpected factor, was also reported to be an influential factor. More detailed analysis revealed that heterorganic clusters have more overlap than homorganic clusters. Within heterorganic clusters, a tongue tip consonant is more overlapped by a following tongue body consonant than a tongue body consonant is by a following tongue tip consonant. For manner of articulation, stops are found to be more overlapped by a following stop than by a following fricative. Overlapping caused by voicing feature was an unexpected outcome found in the present study. Voiceless consonant clusters have more overlap than voiced clusters. The difference between native and non-native speakers is also of interest. With respect to the amount of overlap, native speakers have more overlap than non-native speakers. Moreover, statistic tests reported a significant effect for proficiency group. From the comparison of mean values of three ratios, the performance of advanced group was close to native speakers. And intermediate and low groups exhibited similar performance. / Graduate

The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the nature of an optional consonant deletion process, through an articulatory and acoustic study of word-final consonant clusters in Persian. Persian word-final coronal stops are optionally deleted when they are preceded by obstruents or the homorganic nasal /n/. For example, the final clusters in the words /næft/ “oil”, /suχt/ “burnt” and /qæsd/ “intention” are optionally simplified in fast/casual speech, resulting in: [næf], [suχ], and [qæs]. What is not clear from this traditional description is whether the coronal stop is truly deleted, or if a coronal gesture is produced, but not heard, because it is obscured by the adjacent consonants. According to Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990a, 1990b, 1992, 2001), the articulatory gestures of the deleted segments can still exist even if the segments are not heard. In this dissertation, ultrasound imaging was used to determine whether coronal consonant deletion in Persian is categorical or gradient, and the acoustic consequences of cluster simplification were investigated through duration and spectral measures. This phonetic study enables an account for the optional nature of the cluster simplification process. A general phonological account is provided for the simplification of coda clusters with rising sonority, and the acoustic and articulatory investigation focuses on the simplification of clusters with coronal stops. Ten Persian-speaking graduate students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, five male and five female, aged 25-38 participated in the articulatory and acoustic study. Audio and real time ultrasound video recordings were made while subjects had a guided conversation with a native speaker of Persian. 662 tokens of word-final coronal clusters were auditorily classified into unsimplified and simplified according to whether they contained an audible [t]. Singleton coda consonants and singleton /t/s were also captured as controls. The end of the constriction plateau of C1 and beginning of constriction plateau of C3 were used to define a time interval in which to measure the coronal gesture as the vertical distance between the tongue blade and the palate. Smoothing Splines ANOVA was used in a novel way to compare tongue blade height over time across the three conditions. The articulatory results of this study showed that the gestures of the deleted segments are often still present. More specifically, the findings showed that of the clusters that sounded simplified, some truly had no [t] gesture, some had gestural overlap, and some had reduced gestures. In order to explain the optional nature of the simplification process, it is argued that the simplified tokens are the result of two independent mechanisms. Inevitable mechanical and physiological effects generate gesturally reduced and overlapped tokens whereas planned language-specific behaviors driven by phonological rules or abstract cognitive representations result in no [t]-gesture output. The findings of this study support the main arguments presented in Articulatory Phonology regarding the underlying reasons for sound patterns and sound change. The results of this study are further used to examine different sound change models. It is argued that the simplified tokens with totally deleted [t] gesture could be the result of speakers changing their representations based on other people’s gestural overlap. This would be instances of the Choice and Chance categories in Blevins’ (2004) CCC sound change model. The acoustic results did not find any major cues which could distinguish simplified tokens from controls. It is argued that articulatory data should form an integral part of phonetic studies.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-06-06T11:26:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 emersonlopescruz.pdf: 4593129 bytes, checksum: 951b095b83f2d5e1f9ef2c741f72ceca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-06-06T12:16:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 emersonlopescruz.pdf: 4593129 bytes, checksum: 951b095b83f2d5e1f9ef2c741f72ceca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-06T12:16:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 emersonlopescruz.pdf: 4593129 bytes, checksum: 951b095b83f2d5e1f9ef2c741f72ceca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Esta dissertação busca: (1) entender as motivações para os erros fonético-fonológicos produzidos por alunos brasileiros universitários aprendizes do Inglês, principalmente no que se refere à dificuldade desses alunos em produzir palavras que contêm agrupamentos consonantais (consonant clusters), e (2) contribuir para uma análise linguística e pedagógica, buscando mostrar a necessidade de mudança de paradigmas no ensino de Inglês com base em transformações histórico-político-sociais, causadas pela expansão da língua inglesa como fenômeno mundial, para que haja uma revisão dos parâmetros e consequente reformulação dos currículos utilizados atualmente no ensino do Inglês, inclusive e principalmente no Brasil. Para a execução da presente investigação, utilizamos pesquisa de orientação etnográfica e estudo comparativo entre o Português e o Inglês. Concluímos, em linhas gerais, que os brasileiros, não-nativos falantes do Inglês como L2, tendem a pronunciar palavras que contenham agrupamentos (clusters) ou sequências consonantais desfazendo-os, principalmente através do uso de um elemento epentético de valor [+ silábico], em geral a vogal [i], em face das diferenças fonético-fonológicas existentes entre o Português e o Inglês. / This thesis aims at: (1) seeking to understand the motivations for the phonetic-phonological errors produced by Brazilian university students, English learners, mainly in what concerns the difficulty of those students in producing words which contain consonant clusters; and (2) contributing a pedagogical and linguistic analysis, trying to show the need for paradigm shifting in the teaching of English on the basis of recent historical, political, and social changes, caused by the spreading of the English language as a world phenomenon, so that there can be a revision of the parameters and consequent restructuring of the curricula presently adopted in English language teaching, mainly in Brazil. For the execution of this work, we made use of ethnographically-oriented research and carried out a comparative study of Portuguese and English. In general lines, we conclude that, as non-native speakers of English, Brazilians are likely to pronounce words which contain consonant clusters by splitting them, mainly through the use of an epenthetic [+ syllabic] element, in general the vowel [i], because of the existing phonetic-phonological differences between Portuguese and English.

The topic of this thesis belongs to the area of L2 acquisition. It focuses on the Czech as a second/foreign language for native Spanish speakers, specifically on their pronunciation of selected consonantal clusters in comparison with the Czech orthoepic norm. The theoretical part summarizes the problems learning the pronunciation of second/foreign language and describes phonetic systems, syllable structure and specific combinatorial properties of sounds in Czech and Spanish. The practical part describes the research for which thirteen Spanish speakers from different countries and with different length of stay in the Czech Republic were recorded. For the purpose of the research a special text containing the selected consonantal clusters in initial, medial and final position of the word was compiled. Words were examined with a perceptive analysis and the results were processed according to established criteria.

This thesis produces a definition of consonant mutations, a hitherto relatively unexplored phenomenon in typology, using a sample of languages from the Celtic and Uralic languages. It is defined using Canonical Typology. The base of the phenomenon is established as ‘functionalized consonant alternations’, with seven dimensions of variation: conditioning elements>no conditioning elements; sole functional indicator>accompanied by other morphemes; more than two grades>two grades; some effect on surrounding vowels>only affecting the consonant; only leniting>also non-leniting sound changes; word-initial/-final>word-medial placement; and less regular>more regular. It is also argued that mutations’ phonology is less important than their function.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL) intervention method to improve consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) reading in four students receiving Tier 3 services. The SEEL intervention method was also combined with the use of digital books on an iPad to investigate the effects of using technology in reading intervention sessions. Previous research indicates effectiveness for the foundational principles of SEEL, which include instruction in engaging, meaningful contexts that provide frequent and intense opportunities to practice. This research involved 4 kindergarten students who qualified for Tier 3 services based on their performance on an index of difficulty in early literacy skills. The study contrasted trained with untrained literacy targets of comparable difficulty and was conducted as a single-subject multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design. Intervention was delivered three times a week for 15-20 minutes, depending on the engagement of the participants. An analysis of the results showed improvement in three out of four participants in their reading ability of the target CVC words. It gave mixed results as to the effects of using technology in combination with the reading intervention. The analysis also looked at student engagement during both the hands-on manipulation of the materials and the reading and writing tasks performed on the iPad. It found that the engagement between these two parts of each session was similar; if a student had poor engagement for the SEEL intervention, he or she also had poor engagement for the iPad portion, and vice versa. This study provides further insight into the efficacy of SEEL and the use of technology; it also provides suggestions for future research in the area of reading intervention.