2026-09-19T20:40:22Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/343622022-01-13T07:54:29Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Kenneth N. Stevens.
Hon, Elisabeth A
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
2006-11-07T11:48:08Z
2006-11-07T11:48:08Z
2005
2005
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34362
70079051
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-54).
A challenge for speech recognition models is to account for the variation between natural connected speech forms and the canonical forms of the lexicon. This study focuses on one particular sound change common in conversational speech, in which word-final coronal nasal consonants undergo place assimilation toward following word-initial labial consonants. Formant frequency measurements were taken from words ending with coronal nasal consonants in potentially assimilating sentence contexts, and identical words ending in labial nasal consonants, across vowel contexts. The frequency of the second formant at vowel offset and during nasal closure was found to be sufficient to discriminate between underlying forms. There was evidence that even strongly-assimilated coronal segments differ on the basis of these cues from their pure labial counterparts. It is hypothesized that listeners can use these acoustic cues to uncover the intended place of articulation of assimilated segments, without recourse to phonological inference or sentence context.
by Elisabeth A. Hon.
S.M.
54 leaves
3310700 bytes
3311747 bytes
application/pdf
application/pdf
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
An acoustic analysis of labialization of coronal nasal consonants in American English
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<Abstract>A challenge for speech recognition models is to account for the variation between natural connected speech forms and the canonical forms of the lexicon. This study focuses on one particular sound change common in conversational speech, in which word-final coronal nasal consonants undergo place assimilation toward following word-initial labial consonants. Formant frequency measurements were taken from words ending with coronal nasal consonants in potentially assimilating sentence contexts, and identical words ending in labial nasal consonants, across vowel contexts. The frequency of the second formant at vowel offset and during nasal closure was found to be sufficient to discriminate between underlying forms. There was evidence that even strongly-assimilated coronal segments differ on the basis of these cues from their pure labial counterparts. It is hypothesized that listeners can use these acoustic cues to uncover the intended place of articulation of assimilated segments, without recourse to phonological inference or sentence context.</Abstract>
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