Changes in Syllable and Boundary Strengths Due to Irritation

This study examines prosodic characteristics of speech in dialogue exchanges. Subjects were asked to repeat the same correction of one digit in a three-digit sequence consisting of ‘five’ or ‘nine,’ followed by ‘Pine Street.’ Articulatory and acoustic signals were obtained on four speakers of General American English at the University of Wisconsin x-ray microbeam facility. These data are analyzed using computational algorithms based on the theoretical framework of the Converter/Distributor (C/D) model [7]. The data analysis primarily pertains to jaw movements to evaluate syllable and boundary magnitudes in varied prosodic conditions, represented in the form of a linear syllableboundary pulse train [7] that is interpreted as the rhythmic structure of an utterance. Preliminary results on syllable and boundary conditions indicate that not only does the magnitude of the corrected syllable change with repeated correction and perceived irritation, but also the magnitude and occurrence pattern of boundaries change, thus suggesting phonetic phrasal reorganization.