The complete title of this book runs ‘Analyzing Linguistic Data: A Practical Introduction to Statistics using R’ and as such it very well reflects the purpose and spirit of the book. The author guides the reader in about 350 pages from descriptive and basic statistical methods over classification and clustering to (generalised) linear and mixed models. Each of the methods is introduced in the context of concrete linguistic problems and demonstrated on exciting datasets from current research in the language sciences. In line with its practical orientation, the book focuses primarily on using the methods and interpreting the results. This implies that the mathematical treatment of the techniques is held at a minimum if not absent from the book. In return, the reader is provided with very detailed explanations on how to conduct the analyses using R [1]. The first chapter sets the tone being a 20-page introduction to R. For this and all subsequent chapters, the R code is intertwined with the chapter text and the datasets and functions used are conveniently packaged in the languageR package that is available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). With this approach, the author has done an excellent job in enabling researchers and students alike to reproduce the analyses and learn by doing. Another quality as a textbook is the fact that every chapter ends with Workbook sections where the user is invited to exercise his or her analysis skills on supplemental datasets. Full solutions including code, results and comments are given in Appendix A (30 pages). Instructors are therefore very well served by this text, although they might want to balance the book with some more mathematical treatment depending on the target audience. After the introductory chapter on R, the book opens on graphical data exploration. Chapter 3 treats probability distributions and common sampling distributions. Under basic statistical methods (Chapter 4), distribution tests and tests on means and variances are covered. Chapter 5 deals with clustering and classification. Strangely enough, the clustering section has material on PCA, factor analysis, correspondence analysis and includes only one subsection on clustering, devoted notably to hierarchical partitioning methods. The classification part deals with decision trees, discriminant analysis and support vector machines. The regression chapter (Chapter 6) treats linear models, generalised linear models, piecewise linear models and a substantial section on models for lexical richness. The final chapter on mixed models is particularly interesting as it is one of the few text book accounts that introduce the reader to using the (innovative) lme4 package of Douglas Bates which implements linear mixed-effects models. Moreover, the case studies included in this

Analyzing linguistic data: a practical introduction to statistics using R

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet

Formation and control of optimal trajectory in human multijoint arm movement : minimum torque-change model

Purpose This review summarizes research on disorders of speech production in Down syndrome (DS) for the purposes of informing clinical services and guiding future research. Method Review of the literature was based on searches using MEDLINE, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, and HighWire Press, as well as consideration of reference lists in retrieved documents (including online sources). Search terms emphasized functions related to voice, articulation, phonology, prosody, fluency, and intelligibility. Conclusions The following conclusions pertain to four major areas of review: voice, speech sounds, fluency and prosody, and intelligibility. The first major area is voice. Although a number of studies have reported on vocal abnormalities in DS, major questions remain about the nature and frequency of the phonatory disorder. Results of perceptual and acoustic studies have been mixed, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions or even to identify sensitive measures for future study. The second major area is speech s...

/pdf/speech-impairment-in-down-syndrome-a-review-4u4rvzt6fq.pdf

Speech Impairment in Down Syndrome: A Review

A theory of the segmental component of speech motor control is presented, followed by supporting data. According to the theory, speech movements are programmed to achieve auditory/acoustic goals. The goals are determined partly by "saturation effects", which are basic characteristics of speakers' production systems that make it possible to produce a sound output that has some relatively stable acoustic properties despite a somewhat variable motor input. The programming of articulatory movements to achieve auditory goals utilizes an internal model (or "mapping") of relations between articulatory configurations and their acoustic consequences. The internal model is acquired and maintained with the use of auditory feedback. The supporting data for this theory come from experiments on speakers with normal hearing, cochlear implant users and a patient with neurofibromatosis-2.

A theory of speech motor control and supporting data from speakers with normal hearing and with profound hearing loss

In this study the acoustic and articulatory variabilities of speakers with different palate shapes were compared. Since the cross-sectional area of the vocal tract changes less for a slight change in tongue position if the palate is domeshaped than if it is flat, the acoustic variability should be greater for flat palates than for domeshaped ones. Consequently, it can be hypothesized that speakers with flat palates should reduce their articulatory variability in order to keep the acoustic output constant. This hypothesis was tested on 32 speakers recorded via electropalatography (EPG) and acoustics. The articulatory and acoustic variability of some of their vowels and /j/ was measured. Indeed, the results show that the speakers with flat palates reduce their variability in tongue height. There is no such trend in acoustic variability.

/pdf/on-the-relationship-between-palate-shape-and-articulatory-4c4pmg5kas.pdf

On the relationship between palate shape and articulatory behavior

The aim of the present study is two-fold. First, we will show that glottal stops/glottalization and low vowels are likely to co-occur in typologically different languages. Second, we will investigate the question whether this widely attested cooccurrence of glottalization and low vowels could be due to a perceptual phenomenon; i.e. differences in the perception of vowel quality of glottalized as compared to non-glottalized vowels. We hypothesized that vowels are perceived lower in their height if they are glottalized. In order to test our hypothesis we conducted a perceptual experiment with two German continua of b[i]tenb[e]ten (‘to offer’, ‘to pray’), a non-glottalized and a glottalized one. 23 German subjects took part in an identification test in which they were asked to indicate whether they perceived words from these continua as b[i]ten or b[e]ten. The data show very clearly that subjects perceive b[e]ten more often than b[i]ten if the vowel is glottalized. This result indicates that the co-occurrence of glottal sounds and low vowels in the languages of the world could actually originate in a reinterpretation of glottalized higher vowels as lower ones.

Why Do Glottal Stops and Low Vowels Like Each Other

Articulatory token-to-token variability not only depends on linguistic aspects likethe phoneme inventory of a given language but also on speaker speciﬁc morphologi-cal and motor constraints. As has been noted previously (Perkell (1997), Moosham-mer et al. (2004)) , speakers with coronally high ”domeshaped” palates exhibit morearticulatory variability than speakers with coronally low ”ﬂat” palates. One expla-nation for that is based on perception oriented control by the speaker. The inﬂuenceof articulatory variation on the cross sectional area and consequently on the acous-tics should be greater for ﬂat palates than for domeshaped ones. This should forcespeakers with ﬂat palates to place their tongue very precisely whereas speakers withdomeshaped palates might tolerate a greater variability. A second explanation couldbeagreateramountoflaterallinguo-palatalcontactforﬂatpalatesholdingthetonguein position. In this study both hypotheses were tested.Inordertoinvestigatetheinﬂuenceofthepalateshapeonthevariabilityoftheacous-tic output a modelling study was carried out. Parallely, an EPG experiment wasconducted in order to investigate the relationship between palate shape, articulatoryvariability and linguo-palatal contact.Results from the modelling study suggest that the acoustic variability resulting froma certain amount of articulatory variability is higher for ﬂat palates than for dome-shaped ones. Results from the EPG experiment with 20 speakers show that (1.)speakers with a ﬂat palate exhibit a very low articulatory variability whereas speak-ers with a domeshaped palate vary, (2.) there is less articulatory variability if thereis lots of linguo-palatal contact and (3.) there is no relationship between the amountof lateral linguo-palatal contact and palate shape. The results suggest that there is arelationship between token-to-token variability and palate shape, however, it is not

/pdf/the-influence-of-the-palate-shape-on-articulatory-token-to-2r36sx3yyg.pdf

The influence of the palate shape on articulatory token-to-token variability

Previous studies suggest that there are special timing relations in syllable onsets. The consonants are assumed to be timed, on the one hand, with the vocalic nucleus and, on the other hand, with each other. These competing timing relations result in the C-center effect. However, the C-center effect has not consistently been found in languages with complex onsets. Moreover, it has occasionally been found in languages disallowing complex onsets. The present study investigates onset timing in German while discussing alternative explanations (not related to bonding) for the timing patterns observed. Six German speakers were recorded via Electromagnetic Articulography. The corpus contained items with four clusters (/sk/, /kv/, /gl/, and /pl/). The clusters occur in word-initial position, word-medial position, and across a word boundary preceding different vowels. The results suggest that segmental properties (i.e., oral-laryngeal coordination, coarticulatory resistance) determine the observed timing patterns, and specifically the absence or presence of the C-center effect.

/pdf/timing-of-german-onset-and-word-boundary-clusters-1jcelibp1c.pdf

Timing of German onset and word boundary clusters

Purpose The aim of this study was to relate speakers' auditory acuity for the sibilant contrast, their use of motor equivalent trading relationships in producing the sibilant /ʃ/, and their produce...

http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1675.pdf

Jana Brunner

Papers

On the relationship between palate shape and articulatory behavior

Why Do Glottal Stops and Low Vowels Like Each Other

The influence of the palate shape on articulatory token-to-token variability

Timing of German onset and word boundary clusters

The influence of auditory acuity on acoustic variability and the use of motor equivalence during adaptation to a perturbation.