Stochastic Time Models of Syllables

Haskins Laboratories, Inc., New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Language, like walking or other everyday activities, is skilled behavior. Speaking involves coordinating different organs in the vocal tract as their movement unfolds in space and time. The proposed research aims to understand the relation between speech movement timing and syllables. A core objective is the development of rigorous analysis techniques for understanding syllabic structuring. The research will use existing databases of articulatory and acoustic recordings of English and Arabic. English and Arabic have different patterns of allowable consonant sequences across and within syllables, making the comparison a good test case for the research. Syllables are ideal for studying the link between speech timing and linguistic ability. Previous work has shown that developing the skill of reading may require mastery of the timing of speech movements. Syllables are thus crucially implicated in reading because speech movement timing depends on the syllable structure of the specific language. Syllable structure is also implicated in the error patterns of patients with apraxia of speech. The availability of techniques for assessing syllable structure would offer valuable tools for understanding normal language development as well as impairment or developmental delay in patients and child populations.