Blackwell Reference Online

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This chapter reviews the current state of the quantal/enhancement theory of speech production. Special emphasis is placed on new insights about the physical principles that lead to quantal relations between the articulatory configuration of the vocal tract and its acoustic output. Evidence that supports these principles is discussed. In particular, we postulate that there are two sources of quantal relations, one being the principles that govern the interaction of aerodynamic forces with the vocal tract surfaces, and the other being the principle of coupled resonators. We propose that these two principles lead to (1) a natural division of the distinctive features into two groups, articulator-free and articulator-bound, and (2) natural constraints among the features within these two groups for any segment, such that the featural representation of a segment is rather sparse. We conclude by comparing quantal/enhancement theory with other theories of speech production and perception, and suggest areas of research that explore the consequences of quantal/enhancement theory for unresolved issues in English, and for languages other than English.Speech communication involves the generation of sound by a speaker and interpretation of that sound by a listener. In preparation for the production of sound, the speaker plans the utterance in a linguistic form, one component of which is a concatenation ... log in or subscribe to read full text