2.07 - Vowels

Question 0

Vowel are perceptually _______. What does this mean?

Answer 0

Salient

Vowels are typically the most intense portion of a syllable

Question 1

Vowels are the only speech sounds produced with a relatively _______.

Answer 1

Open vocal tract

Question 2

American English vowels are typically _______.

Answer 2

Voiced

Question 3

What are the four features of vowels?

Answer 3

Tongue height (low to high)

Tongue backness (front to back)

Lip Rounding (yes or no)

Tenseness (tense vs. lax)

Question 4

Tense vowels tend to be associated with ______ extreme tongue position than lax vowels and tend to be _______ in duration.

Answer 4

More

Longer

Question 5

Are tense vowels usually in open or closed syllables?

Answer 5

Either

Question 6

Lax vowels tend to be associated with ______ extreme tongue position than tense vowels and tend to be ______ in duration.

Answer 6

Less

Shorter

Question 7

Lax vowels are typically limited to ______ syllables.

Answer 7

Closed

Question 8

What concerns vowels more: the source or the shape?

Answer 8

The shape

Question 9

Formants are concentrations of _______ in the spectrum that correspond to the _________.

Answer 9

Energy

Vocal tract resonance frequencies

Question 10

What formant has the lowest frequency concentration?

Answer 10

F1

Question 11

What formants are usually needed for vowel recognition?

Answer 11

F1

F2

Question 12

Typically, ________ have larger bandwidths.

Answer 12

Higher formants

Question 13

Formant transitions indicate ______.

Answer 13

Articulatory changes

Question 14

F1 is inversely related with _______. The higher the vowel, the ______ the F1.

Answer 14

Tongue height

Lower

Question 15

F1 is responsive to changes in the _______. (_______ openings result in lower F1)

Answer 15

Mouth opening

Small

Question 16

F2 is related to _______. F2 goes ______ as the tongue moves forward.)

Answer 16

Tongue advancement

Up

Question 17

F2 is responsive to changes in the ________.

_______ and ______ lower F2.

Answer 17

Size of the oral cavity

Backing

Lip rounding

Question 18

F1, F2, F3, & F4 are generally lowered by _________.

Answer 18

Lip rounding

Question 19

What is the primary cue that overcomes the lack of invariance problem?

Answer 19

F1 & F2

Question 20

What are the two secondary cues that overcome the lack of invariance problem?

Answer 20

Vowel duration (short or long)

Intensity

Question 21

Does vowel pitch help overcome the lack of invariance problem?

Answer 21

No

Question 22

Do F1 & F2 frequencies vary from speaker to speaker?

Answer 22

Yes

Question 23

F3 stays pretty ______.

Answer 23

Constant

Question 24

If you had a hearing loss between 2500-3000 Hz, would it affect your ability to hear the "6 American English vowels and their formants"?

Answer 24

No

Question 25

A hearing loss below _______ Hz would not prevent you from hearing the vowel specifically but they will still sound different because you will be missing information.

Answer 25

1500 Hz

Question 26

Are all vowels extremely different from each other? | 2

Answer 26

No Some vowels are more similar to others but are still easily distinguished

Question 27

What are the four potential acoustic cues in vowel perception?

Answer 27

Static Properties Dynamic Properties Intrinsic-Relational Properties Extrinsic-Relational Properties

Question 28

What are Static Properties of Vowel Perception? | 3

Answer 28

Steady-state formant frequencies Fundamental phonetic environment (Surrounding sounds, speaking rate)

Question 29

What are Dynamic Properties of Vowel Perception? | 2

Answer 29

Inherent spectral change Consonantal context effects (relative to vowel amplification)

Question 30

What are Intrinsic-Relational Properties of Vowel Perception? (2)

Answer 30

Intra-Segmental Relations among the fundamental and formant frequencies within vowels

Question 31

What are Extrinsic Relational Properties of Vowel Perception? (3)

Answer 31

Transsegmental Relative vowel duration Relative formant frequencies of a vowel (as compared to other vowels produced by the same speaker)

Question 32

Tense vowels tend to be _______ than lax vowels.

Answer 32

Longer

Question 33

If you don't track the rate of speech then you cannot use ______ as a speech cue.

Answer 33

Duration

Question 34

Generally low vowels (those produced lower in the mouth) are ______ intense than high vowels.

Answer 34

More

Question 35

Typically lower vowels have _____ F0.

Answer 35

Lower

Question 36

Who has the highest intrinsic vowel pitch? Who has the lowest?

Answer 36

Children Men

Question 37

Intrinsic pitch gives us insight into _____ and _____.

Answer 37

Gender Age

Question 38

Does intrinsic vowel pitch seem to play a role in speech perception?q

Answer 38

No

Question 39

What can intrinsic vowel pitch be used for?

Answer 39

To see if a deaf child is making the right speech movements

Question 40

Intrinsic Pitch for Vowels shows us _____ position.

Answer 40

Hyoid

Question 41

What are the two theories of Vowel Perception?

Answer 41

Intrinsic Factor Theories Extrinsic Factor Theories

Question 42

Where do Intrinsic Factor Theories look for information?

Answer 42

In the vowel itself

Question 43

According to Intrinsic Factor Theories, what three things may determine vowel identity?

Answer 43

Single formant frequencies Ranges of formant frequencies Ratios of formant frequencies

Question 44

Where do Extrinsic Factor Theories look for information?

Answer 44

Outside the vowel

Question 45

According to Extrinsic Factor Theories, what three things may determine vowel identity?

Answer 45

"Normalizing" using the point vowels "Estimating" the speaker's vocal tract (to determine vowel pitch) Using formant transitions of consonants

Question 46

Can a single, unique formant frequency determine vowel identity? Why?

Answer 46

No. Formants can and will change between speakers

Question 47

Can ranges of formant frequencies determine vowel identity? Why?

Answer 47

Sometimes but this is not trustworthy Some vowels have unique ranges but others have more overlap

Question 48

Can ratios of formant frequencies determine vowel identity? Why?

Answer 48

No. This is only clear in the front vowels. Back & Mid vowels are more similar and overlap

Question 49

What are three difficulties to using only formants to determine vowel identity?

Answer 49

There is great variability between formant values and ranges There are overlapping areas in formant ranges This ignores other factors that may also give us clues

Question 50

What are three difficulties in only using Formant Ratios in determining vowel identity?

Answer 50

Variability Male, female, and children's vocal tracts are not scale models of each other This ignores other cues that may exist

Question 51

The distance from an average male's glottis to velum is _____ cm.

Answer 51

9.1 cm

Question 52

The distance from an average female's glottis to velum is _____ cm.

Answer 52

7 cm

Question 53

The distance from an average male's pharyngeal wall to incisors is _____ cm.

Answer 53

8.25 cm

Question 54

The distance from an average female's pharyngeal wall to incisors is _____ cm.

Answer 54

7 cm

Question 55

What are the difficulties in only using Formant Ratios with F0?

Answer 55

Variability Ignores other relevant factors

Question 56

Vowels vary along ______ dimensions.

Answer 56

Three

Question 57

What are the three dimensions in which vowels vary?

Answer 57

X = log(SF3/SF2) Y = log(SF1/SR) Z = log(SF2/SF1)

Question 58

What is SR? What is it's value?

Answer 58

Sensory Reference 168

Question 59

What is the Tetrahedron?

Answer 59

A three axis graph that looks at the three dimensions of vowels

Question 60

What was the extrinsic example given in lecture?

Answer 60

That the same symbol can look like "B" of "13" depending on whether it's in "A __ C" or "12 __ 14"

Question 61

Do Formant Ratios with F0 solve the lack of invariance problem?

Answer 61

No

Question 62

Extrinsic perception changes according to what ______.

Answer 62

You expect

Question 63

Are Formant Ranges and Formant Ratio theories intrinsic or extrinsic?

Answer 63

Intrinsic

Question 64

Is the Vocal Tract Normalization theory intrinsic or extrinsic?

Answer 64

Extrinsic

Question 65

What is the Vocal Tract Normalization?

Answer 65

Listeners estimate/infer the speaker's vocal tract This is used to normalize informations to perceive the correct vowel

Question 66

What stimuli did the Vocal Tract Normalization use?

Answer 66

A vowel sandwiched in between /b/ and /t/

Question 67

What happened in the Vocal Tract Normalization experiment? What happened?

Answer 67

F1 was shifted down (to stimulate a larger vocal tract) ????

Question 68

In a word, the preceding sound affects the ______ of the ________.

Answer 68

Interpretation Current sound

Question 69

What is the Point Vowel Normalization theory?

Answer 69

That listeners calibrate vowels based on the location of the point (corner) vowels (/i/, /u/, /ɑ/)

Question 70

Why are point vowels so imporant?

Answer 70

They are more stable

Question 71

Did Liberman & Gerstman find a significant difference in our ability to interpret a vowel when point vowels were provided?

Answer 71

No

Question 72

When did Liberman & Gerstman find a significant difference in our ability to interpret a vowel?

Answer 72

When all the speaker's vowels (entire inventory) were presented together

Question 73

What are the three point vowels?

Answer 73

/i/ /u/ /ɑ/

Question 74

What is the Dynamic Specification Model theory?

Answer 74

We consider all the various cues

Question 75

What are the various cues of Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 75

Control Silent centers Centers alone Initial portions Final portions Abutted syllables

Question 76

What is the Control Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 76

C V C

Question 77

What is the Silent Center Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 77

C ... C

Question 78

What is the Centers Alone Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 78

... V ...

Question 79

What is the Initial Portion Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 79

C ... ...

Question 80

What is the Final Portion Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 80

... ... C

Question 81

What is the Abutted Syllable Cue of the Dynamic Specification Model?

Answer 81

C C The Vowel is cut out and Consonants are moved together

Question 82

In the Dynamic Specification Model, which two conditions produced the smallest amount of errors?

Answer 82

Control Syllables Silent Centers

Question 83

What are the four cues that are important to speech perception?

Answer 83

Static Properties Dynamic Properties Intrinsic (Intra-Segmental) Relational Properties Extrinsic (Transsegmental) Relational Properties

Question 84

What are Static Properties? | 2

Answer 84

Steady state formant frequencies Fundamental phonetic environment

Question 85

What are Dynamic Properties? | 3

Answer 85

Inherent spectral changes Consonantal context effects Relative vowel amplitude

Question 86

What are Intrinsic (Intra-Segmental) Relational Properties?

Answer 86

Relations among fundamental & formant frequencies within vowels

Question 87

What are Extrinsic (Transsegmental) Relational Properties? | 2

Answer 87

Vowel duration Formant frequencies of a vowel compared to those of other vowels from the same speaker