QUANTIFYING VOWEL ONSET PERIODICITY IN JAPANESE
Michael Connolly, Brady Robert, F. Port · 2007
Many researchers will agree that the brain must employ some expectancy mechanism for speech as speech unfolds through time. We, among others, posit that an adaptive oscillator may be made to synchronize with these speech expectancies. The oscillator would define something of a cognitive pulse and should align itself with key features of the acoustic signal. A recent study we conducted on compensatory mora relationships between neighbor voicing inter-onset-intervals in Japanese strongly indicates voice onsets as important targets for a referent pulse or planning mechanism. We review that study and draw on its results to highlight some issues related to modeling a referent or cognitive pulse. Based on a circular statistics foundation, we note how some vowel onsets should be treated as strong coupling targets for an adaptive oscillator while other vowel onsets should be treated more as distractions. From there we discuss some problems and issues associated with analyzing speech for forms of periodic regularity.