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11 - Measuring Consonants

from Section III - Measuring Speech

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2021

By
Mauricio Figueroa  and
Young Shin Kim
Edited by
Rachael-Anne Knight  and
Jane Setter
Rachael-Anne Knight
Affiliation:
City, University of London
Jane Setter
Affiliation:
University of Reading
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Summary

This chapter addresses the issue of measuring consonants from an acoustic perspective. After reviewing some of the historic precedents that laid the foundations of acoustic analysis relevant for speech, the chapter provides a detailed report of the techniques for measuring the acoustic information of consonants of six manners of articulation (fricatives, stops, affricates, nasals, approximants, and the group of trills, taps and flaps). The chapter discusses links between the main articulatory characteristics of consonants of each manner and their acoustic correlates, with a focus on those acoustic variables that differentiate consonants within a manner, and on the variety of methods that are employed to measure them. Whenever possible, the chapter gives specific guidelines on how to apply the measurements, highlighting the differences in implementation between authors as well as the advantages and disadvantages of selecting one approach over another. In its closing sections, the chapter discusses some recent studies which address the issue of measuring consonants, provides some practical recommendations for teaching, and identifies some future directions for the topic.

Keywords

acoustic propertiesacoustic correlatesperceptual cuesannotationmethodological approachessignal processing techniquesspectral moments voice-onset time (VOT)
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics , pp. 285 - 311
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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