Haskins Publications

Number	1309
Year	2003
Drawer	25
Entry Date	01/16/2008
Authors	Pouplier, M.
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Publication	Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Barcelona, Spain. August 3-9, 2003. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, pp.2245-2248
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1309.pdf
Abstract	We report findings from speech error experiments that challenge particular assumptions about articulatory effort as they have gained widespread currency in recent phonetic and phonological theroy. We find that in errors, speakers often add extra gestures that are phonotactically illegal, but crucially create a symmetric frequency pattern. While this increase in nmber of articulatory events is unexpected under an effort-based approach, from a dynamic perspective we can understand this phenomenon as a transition to an optimally stable mode of coordination. We discuss why articulatory effort cannot be evaluated without reference to dynamic stability relative to the current context of an utterance. Gestures are never per se effortful; rather, changes in complex coordination relations can result from the interplay of different stable attractor basins governed by the dynamic characteristics of speech production.
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