14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14) San Francisco, CA, USA August 1-7, 1999

Flexibility and Stability in Bilabial Gestures: 2) Evidence from Continuous Syllable Production

Pascal van Lieshout (1), Marjolein Hijl (2), Wouter Hulstijn (2)

(1) University of Toronto, Canada
(2) University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands

In this paper the effect of syllable structure on bilabial coupling is investigated from a coordinative dynamics point of view. Data will be presented on four normal speaking subjects, who were asked to reiterate at a fast rate sequences of monosyllable and disyllable non-words, differing in syllabic structure. The dynamics of the coupling between upper and lower lip was measured in using continuous estimates of relative phase values. The results show a clear effect of syllable structure on the coupling of the lips while producing bilabial closing gestures. In particular, it was found that sequences in which cv-syllable structure was repeated, showed a marked difference in terms of lip coupling characteristics and associated speech rates compared to other sequences. The findings are discussed in terms of underlying dynamics of bilabial coupling, in which relative coordination and self-organization are key features.

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Bibliographic reference.  Lieshout, Pascal van / Hijl, Marjolein / Hulstijn, Wouter (1999): "Flexibility and stability in bilabial gestures: 2) evidence from continuous syllable production", In ICPhS-14, 45-48.