14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14)

San Francisco, CA, USA
August 1-7, 1999


Lateralisation and its Proper Interpretation in Speech

E. Wyn Roberts, Kyoung-Ja Lee

Simon Fraser University, B.C., Canada.

The only deviation from the definition of speech as mid-sagittal vocal tract (vt) modification refers to the sound-class '(linguo-) laterals' (uni- (left/right) or bilateral). Laterality alone in phonetics requires that vt activity be regarded as threedimensional, yet very little attention has been paid to it, and the comprehension of laterality in phonetics, even in the lingual region, has hardly progressed beyond its label. Five cardinal vowels [a e i o u] were produced under controlled conditions by one trained phonetician, and the configuration of the labial orifice varied by pulling the upper and lower lips up and down respectively at two different points (left and right). Recordings were examined for acoustic differences in amplitude, Fo, and formant structure. Analysis shows significant variations in all three properties. This analysis will be used later to interpret demonstrated differences in lip configuration characterising speech in different languages.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Roberts, E. Wyn / Lee, Kyoung-Ja (1999): "Lateralisation and its proper interpretation in speech", In ICPhS-14, 475-478.