Year: 1963
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Patterns of electrical activity in the tongue musculature can be matched with the component features of a phonetic description of the vowels. When an English vowel is short and simple, e.g., /ɪ/, activity patterns are observed to occur more or less simultaneously. When a vowel is longer and more complex, e.g., /i, ɑɪ/, a particular activity pattern will occur earlier or later, depending on the vowel. But we find that some longer vowels, e.g., /e/, occupy a middle ground between vowels that are clearly simple, such as /i/, and those that are clearly diphthongs, such as /ɑɪ/. Theoretical commitments will determine whether these intermediate cases fall into one category or the other, or whether they illustrate yet a third category of diphthongizing vowels. We briefly explore some of the considerations that would lead to the last interpretation. [This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service research grant DE-01774, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.]
DOI: 10.1121/1.2142683
Authors: Peter F. MacNeilage, George N. Sholes
Institution: Haskins Laboratories
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: National Institutes of Health
OpenAlex ID: W2045944179