Testing parameters of Vocal tract shape
Peter Ladefoged · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1986
In a mini-version of a system for modeling the speech production process on a Macintosh computer, new algorithms have been devised for interpreting values of eleven control parameters: front-back tongue movement; high-low tongue movement; jaw opening; tip of tongue raising; tip of tongue advancing; lip height; lip rounding and protrusion; velic opening; advancing of the tongue root; rhotacization; and larynx raising. New algorithms have also been devised for converting the vocal tract shapes into sets of tubes, whose lengths and areas can be used as a basis for calculating the sounds that would be produced. The phonological features nasal and advanced tongue root can be given direct values in this set of commands. The features high-low and front-back can be interpreted as auditory specifications from which corresponding tongue shapes can be calculated. It is not known if it is possible to devise algorithms for interpreting other features in terms of these commands.