Speech as encoded language.
| Number | 1198 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2000 |
| Drawer | 22 |
| Entry Date | 03/23/2001 |
| Authors | Abramson, A.S. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | In Burnham, D., Luksaneeyanawin, S., Davis, C., & Lafourcade, M.(eds). Interdisciplinary approaches to language processing. Bangkok, NECTEC. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1198.pdf |
| Abstract | I address here several topics that focus on speech as the output of the human vocal tract constrained by a language. Human language apparently differs from all other means of animal communication through three properties: (1) It is unlimited in its scope of reference. (2) It is free from control by identifiable stimuli. (3) It can be shifted into other perceptuomotor modalities. Language generatively has particulate origins in that discrete units are drawn from a set of primitive elements. These units are permuted and combined to yield larger units. The primitive units are meaningless as are some combinations of them. Above a certain level we have meaningful rule-governed combinations of the units. A language is never completely static. A drift from earlier states leads to the rise of regional and social dialects. In our research we must take cognizance of variation and clearly identify the variety that is the object of our study. The human vocal tract can produce a large gamut of sounds for exploitation by languages. Its supraglottal cavities resonate to periodic and aperiodic excitation sources. The spectral resonances (formants) shift with changing tract-configurations, including the possibility of coupling between the oral and nasal cavities. One goal of speech-perception research is to find the information-bearing elements in the signal, the acoustic “cues” to phonemic distinctions. Another is a better understanding of the links between relevant acoustic dimensions and the parameters of physiological control mechanisms. |
| Notes |
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