Laryngeal gestures in speech. Fiberendoscopic film
The film consists of German words (some slightly unusual) spoken in a carrier phrase “ich
lese ____ für Sie”. Most of the words have two syllables with schwa in the second syllable.
The material is designed to illustrate laryngeal abduction and adduction for various
consonants and consonant clusters (this pattern of laryngeal movement is sometimes
known as the devoicing gesture).
To assist orientation in the film, as each phrase is being spoken the
corresponding subtitle is shown. Within the subtitle the most important
segments with laryngeal abduction are "highlighted" by square brackets as they
are spoken (also some of the other target-word initial consonants ).
In addition there is a counter showing the running number of the speech item on the left
(these numbers are used in the list below), and a second/millisecond counter on the right
that runs (roughly) while the item is being spoken.
The first film link shows all items in the list at the original speed.
The second link shows
items 48 to 51 from the list in a separate film which
has twice the time resolution of the longer film (i.e 50 frames per second instead of 25,
corresponding to 20 ms vs. 40 ms increments on the timer), but runs at half speed, making
it easier to follow details of the movement patterns (the audio channel has been stretched
to match). In this more detailed film some
of the consonants from the carrier phrase have also been highlighted, namely /c/ from “ich”,
/z/ from “lese”, /f/ from “für” and /z/ from “Sie”.
Hint: Expanding the film to full-screen makes it easier to use the slider to look in detail at the
movements (but note that the marking of individual sounds in the sub-titles is not very precise).
Credits: Endoscopy performed by Dr. Heidi Schröter-Morasch, Neuropsychologische
Abteilung, Krankenhaus München-Bogenhausen
Film link 1: Complete word list, normal speed
Film link 2: Selected words, slow motion
List of the speech items, with comments
33 wüsste
Voiced fricatives, such as the initial /v/, may have slight glottal
abduction, presumably to allow sufficient airflow for the fricative
34 fiepe
Most of the target words have an unstressed second syllable, and /p/ is
the first of many examples showing that the glottal abduction for the
voiceless plosive at the beginning of an unstressed syllable may be
much smaller than that found for the same sound at the beginning of a
stressed syllable (see e.g item 48 below).
35 Sitte
Again, small amounts of abduction for the voiced fricative /z/ and the
unstressed voiceless plosive /t/
36 Flöße
This is the first of several examples showing, like the plosives, that a
voiceless fricative in the unstressed syllable has less abduction then in
the stressed syllable, but nevertheless does not show as much
reduction in the unstressed syllable as the plosive does.
37 Pfiffe
38 büßte
39 liest
For this monosyllabic word the final consonants /st/ are labelled
together with the /f/ of the following “für”, i.e there is a long period of
glottal abduction extending over 3 voiceless segments.
40 Scheffel
"husten"
Between items 40 and 41 a nice example of a cough:
Strong laryngeal closure, including false vocal folds and epiglottis, so
true vocal folds are not visible
41 Scheffel
42 sieze
43 Lethe
44 tiefe
45 Hüte
Clear abduction for /h/, but not as much as for voiceless plosives or
“strong” fricatives like /sch/ or /f/
46 fette
47 Fis
Again, a long period of abduction for final /s/, plus /f/ of following “für”
48 piepe
Together with the following item good examples of differering
amounts of reduction for plosives and fricatives in the unstressed
syllable.
See the slow-motion film for a detailed view of items 48 to
51.