TY - JOUR

T1 - Articulatory Variability is Reduced by Repetition and Predictability

AU - Tomaschek, Fabian

AU - Arnold, Denis

AU - Sering, Konstantin

AU - Tucker, Benjamin

AU - van Rij, Jacoline

AU - Ramscar, Michael

PY - 2020/8/18

Y1 - 2020/8/18

N2 - Repeating the movements associated with activities such as drawing or sports typically leads to improvements in kinematic behavior: these movements become faster, smoother, and exhibit less variation. Likewise, practice has also been shown to lead to faster and smoother movement trajectories in speech articulation. However, little is known about its effect on articulatory variability. To address this, we investigate the extent to which repetition and predictability influence the articulation of the frequent German word "sie" [zi] (they). We find that articulatory variability is proportional to speaking rate and the duration of [zi], and that overall variability decreases as [zi] is repeated during the experiment. Lower variability is also observed as the conditional probability of [zi] increases, and the greatest reduction in variability occurs during the execution of the vocalic target of [i]. These results indicate that practice can produce observable differences in the articulation of even the most common gestures used in speech.

AB - Repeating the movements associated with activities such as drawing or sports typically leads to improvements in kinematic behavior: these movements become faster, smoother, and exhibit less variation. Likewise, practice has also been shown to lead to faster and smoother movement trajectories in speech articulation. However, little is known about its effect on articulatory variability. To address this, we investigate the extent to which repetition and predictability influence the articulation of the frequent German word "sie" [zi] (they). We find that articulatory variability is proportional to speaking rate and the duration of [zi], and that overall variability decreases as [zi] is repeated during the experiment. Lower variability is also observed as the conditional probability of [zi] increases, and the greatest reduction in variability occurs during the execution of the vocalic target of [i]. These results indicate that practice can produce observable differences in the articulation of even the most common gestures used in speech.

KW - Articulation

KW - practice

KW - predictability

KW - variability

KW - precision

KW - TO-VOWEL COARTICULATION

KW - ENGLISH CONSONANTS

KW - SPEECH PRODUCTION

KW - AIMED MOVEMENTS

KW - UNCERTAINTY

KW - CHILDREN

KW - DETERMINES

KW - KINEMATICS

KW - FREQUENCY

KW - DURATION

U2 - 10.1177/0023830920948552

DO - 10.1177/0023830920948552

M3 - Article

JO - Language and speech

JF - Language and speech

SN - 0023-8309

M1 - 0023830920948552

ER -