An acoustic study of Spanish voiceless stops

Why does spontaneous speech in any language sound so
different from read speech? This book looks at some
acoustic properties of sounds where this difference
is reflected. For this project, Spanish voiceless
stops were studied in three different speaking modes:
conversation, sentence reading and text reading, in
two native speakers from Spain. The four acoustic
cues observed were the duration of the closure
portion of the stop; the duration of its Voice Onset
Time (VOT); the presence or absence of any voicing
during the closure portion and during the VOT
portion; and the amplitude level of the burst. The
results show that voiceless stops in any type of
speech show similar coarticulatory influences. But
conversation mode, as opposed to the other two
speaking styles, has differences that are reflected
principally in two acoustic correlates, the burst
portion of the stop (including VOT duration and
amplitude) and the presence of some type of voicing
within the closure.

Autorentext

Dr. Pilar Munday is an Associate Professor of Spanish at SacredHeart University, in Fairfield, CT. She studied English philologyat the University of Granada and then went on to complete a Ph.D.in Linguistics at New York University. Besides acousticphonetics, her research involves the pedagogy of Spanish as asecond language.

Klappentext

Why does spontaneous speech in any language sound sodifferent from read speech? This book looks at someacoustic properties of sounds where this differenceis reflected. For this project, Spanish voicelessstops were studied in three different speaking modes:conversation, sentence reading and text reading, intwo native speakers from Spain. The four acousticcues observed were the duration of the closureportion of the stop; the duration of its Voice OnsetTime (VOT); the presence or absence of any voicingduring the closure portion and during the VOTportion; and the amplitude level of the burst. Theresults show that voiceless stops in any type ofspeech show similar coarticulatory influences. Butconversation mode, as opposed to the other twospeaking styles, has differences that are reflectedprincipally in two acoustic correlates, the burstportion of the stop (including VOT duration andamplitude) and the presence of some type of voicingwithin the closure.