English/Linguistics

We explore robust methods of automatically quantifying constriction location, constriction degree and gestural kinematics of Italian short and long consonants using direct image analysis techniques applied to rtMRI data. Articulatory kinematics are estimated from correlated regional changes in pixel intensity. We demonstrate that these methods are capable of quantifying differences in constriction duration exhibited by short and long Italian consonants for labial, coronal and dorsal segments, and differences in constriction degree for labial and coronal consonants. No difference in constriction location is observed for geminates and singletons, while systematic differences in constriction location are observed between (i) coronal oral stops and coronal sonorants and (ii) dorsal stops flanked by vowels differing in backness.

A method of rapid, automatic extraction of consonantal articulatory trajectories from real-time magnetic resonance image sequences is described. Constriction location targets are estimated by identifying regions of maximally-dynamic correlated pixel activity along the palate, the alveolar ridge, and at the lips. Tissue movement into and out of the constriction location is estimated by calculating the change in mean pixel intensity in a circle located at the center of the region of interest. Closure and release gesture timings are estimated from landmarks in the velocity profile derived from the smoothed intensity function. We demonstrate the utility of the technique in the analysis of Italian intervocalic consonant production.

Purpose: Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and accompanying analytical methods are shown to capture and quantify salient aspects of apraxic speech, substantiating and expanding upon evidence provided by clinical observation and acoustic and kinematic data. Analysis of apraxic speech errors within a dynamic systems framework is provided and the nature of pathomechanisms of apraxic speech discussed. Method: One adult male speaker with apraxia of speech was imaged using real-time MRI while producing spontaneous speech, repeated naming tasks, and self-paced repetition of word pairs designed to elicit speech errors. Articulatory data were analyzed, and speech errors were detected using time series reflecting articulatory activity in regions of interest.

Purpose: Facial transplantation involves partial or total replacement of neuromuscular and skeletal structures of the face, head, and neck using donor tissues and is among the most extensive facial reconstructive procedures. This case report compares changes in speech production and articulator movement in a 44-year-old man from pretransplant to a 13-month posttransplant period. Method: Speech production and articulator movement data were examined at 5 time points, once pretransplant and 4 times posttransplant (4, 7, 10, and 13 months), and compared to 4 healthy controls. A motion capture system was used to track jaw and vertical/horizontal lip movement during nonspeech and speech tasks. Speech intelligibility, jaw displacement, lip aperture, and movement variability were measured.

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and accompanying analytical methods are shown to capture and quantify salient aspects of apraxic speech, substantiating and expanding upon evidence provided by clinical observation and acoustic and kinematic data. Analysis of apraxic speech errors within a dynamic systems framework is provided and the nature of pathomechanisms of apraxic speech discussed. One adult male speaker with apraxia of speech was imaged using real-time MRI while producing spontaneous speech, repeated naming tasks, and self-paced repetition of word pairs designed to elicit speech errors. Articulatory data were analyzed, and speech errors were detected using time series reflecting articulatory activity in regions of interest. Real-time MRI captured two types of apraxic gestural intrusion errors in a word pair repetition task. Gestural intrusion errors in nonrepetitive speech, multiple silent initiation gestures at the onset of speech, and covert (unphonated) articulat...

Research on geminate consonants has attempted to establish whether the control of their articulation differs from that of corresponding singletons in temporal parameters, spatial parameters, or both. One piece of evidence supporting spatial control in Italian geminates is EPG results revealing that the location of maximal constriction (CL) of coronal geminates along the palate exhibits small differences from the CL of singletons (Payne 2005). However, our recent work investigating Italian using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has shown that when measuring CL dynamically, the CL of singletons and geminates are identical. Dynamic CL is defined as the region of the image that exhibits maximum intensity change during constriction formation and release. These results can be reconciled with the EPG findings if we hypothesize that differences in CL at the moment of maximal constriction are due to compression effects (in the longer geminates) involving the tongue tip sliding alon...

Purpose Facial transplantation involves partial or total replacement of neuromuscular and skeletal structures of the face, head, and neck using donor tissues and is among the most extensive facial reconstructive procedures. This case report compares changes in speech production and articulator movement in a 44-year-old man from pretransplant to a 13-month posttransplant period. Method Speech production and articulator movement data were examined at 5 time points, once pretransplant and 4 times posttransplant (4, 7, 10, and 13 months), and compared to 4 healthy controls. A motion capture system was used to track jaw and vertical/horizontal lip movement during nonspeech and speech tasks. Speech intelligibility, jaw displacement, lip aperture, and movement variability were measured. Results Speech intelligibility varied across the study period and was restored to control status by 7 months posttransplant. Jaw displacement and lip aperture in the vertical plane significantly increased o...

PurposeAs increasing amounts and types of speech data become accessible, health care and technology industries increasingly demand quantitative insight into speech content. The potential for speech data to provide insight into cognitive, affective, and psychological health states and behavior crucially depends on the ability to integrate speech data into the scientific process. Current engineering methods for acquiring, analyzing, and modeling speech data present the opportunity to integrate speech data into the scientific process. Additionally, machine learning systems recognize patterns in data that can facilitate hypothesis generation, data analysis, and statistical modeling. The goals of the present article are (a) to review developments across these domains that have allowed real-time magnetic resonance imaging to shed light on aspects of atypical speech articulation; (b) in a parallel vein, to discuss how advancements in signal processing have allowed for an improved understan...

The glossectomy procedure, involving surgical resection of cancerous lingual tissue, has long been observed to affect speech production. This study aims to quantitatively index and compare complexity of vocal tract shaping due to lingual movement in individuals who have undergone glossectomy and typical speakers using real-time magnetic resonance imaging data and Principal Component Analysis. The data reveal that (i) the type of glossectomy undergone largely predicts the patterns in vocal tract shaping observed, (ii) gross forward and backward motion of the tongue body accounts for more change in vocal tract shaping than do subtler movements of the tongue (e.g., tongue tip constrictions) in patient data, and (iii) fewer vocal tract shaping components are required to account for the patients' speech data than typical speech data, suggesting that the patient data at hand exhibit less complex vocal tract shaping in the midsagittal plane than do the data from the typical speakers ob...

Individuals who have undergone treatment for oral cancer oftentimes exhibit compensatory behavior in consonant production. This pilot study investigates whether compensatory mechanisms utilized in the production of speech sounds with a given target constriction location vary systematically depending on target manner of articulation. The data reveal that compensatory strategies used to produce target alveolar segments vary systematically as a function of target manner of articulation in subtle yet meaningful ways. When target constriction degree at a particular constriction location cannot be preserved, individuals may leverage their ability to finely modulate constriction degree at multiple constriction locations along the vocal tract.

This dissertation explores four instances of restructuring (clause union) in verb forms found in the Appalachian English (AppE) of eastern Kentucky. I compare novel restructuring analyses of causative and experiencer have, perception verbs, and the verb liketa. In addition, I examine restructuring as reanalysis in the non-finite wh-adjunct how come. In each case, syntactic and semantic diagnostics for clause structure are used to identify types of restructuring and to develop a syntax for these understudied forms. One main goal of the dissertation is to apply Wurmbrand’s mono-clausal approach to restructuring (Wurmbrand 2001) to cases of micro-variation between standard and Appalachian English. This reveals the difference between morphosyntactic variation present in bundles of features manipulated by the syntax and variation which ultimately stems not from the syntax, but from differences in the inventory of post-syntactic morphological rules in standard and non-standard grammars. For instance, I argue that variation in the form of causative and experiencer have complements in AppE is not the result of a different syntax, but rather the result of variation in post-syntactic morphological rules. Investigation of the boundary between variation in syntactic objects and morphological operations performed on those objects will allow us a cleaner view of micro-variation in restructuring phenomena. On the other hand, the study of perception complements shows that differences in complements of this dialect are not always only superficially different. For example, in contrast with Standard English, perception complements in the dialect allow matrix passivization. Following major strands in the literature which argue that passive participle -en blocks some relations between matrix and embedded clauses, this is predicted in a language where the perfect and passive syntactic heads do not license participle morphology on the verb. I argue that Appalachian English is just such a dialect. Irregular forms have leveled to the extent that that distinction between preterite and participle forms is unclear. I argue that matrix passivization in perception verbs is the result of grammatical reanalysis of the perfect and participle heads; they are no longer interveners. This means that any distinctions in past and participle forms present in adult grammars of AppE speakers are superficial and occur by way of what I have termed ‘morphological enrichment’ or unleveling; a process that most likely occurs in language/dialect contact sit- uations with the standard. Essentially, morphological enrichment is the opposite of leveling by impoverishment. Secondly, comparison of perception complements with the restructuring have complements reveals that a unified account of the behavior of both sets of complements requires independent mechanisms such as agreement or head-movement; mechanisms previ- ously used to explain restructuring in some bi-clausal accounts. Analysis of the AppE verb form liketa reveals a syntax similar to wanna contraction found in Standard English. Again, I apply a Wurmbrand style mono-clausal approach to restructuring to the form and make a theoretical comparison with a previous bi-clausal approach to wanna contraction. The major finding is that the mono-clausal approach is more favorable as it requires less stipulation with respect to restructuring. However, in the end, a proper analysis and comparison of the forms requires that they be differentiated by agree relations between the restructuring verb and the embedded auxiliaries. Finally, I analyze the syntax of non-finite how come complements found in AppE as a type of matrix clause restructuring and reanalysis.

In this paper, I analyze the syntax and semantics of the approximative liketa as found in Appalachian English. Liketa is commonly translated to standard American English as almost. I present syntactic facts from extrapostion, yes/no question response, and hierarchy of projections which suggest that liketa is in fact a verb and not an adverb like almost. I use this syntactic analysis to show that a verbal decomposition analysis of the semantics of almost and German fast is not su cient to explain liketa's unique set of interpretations. Instead I propose that liketa's interpretations are best captured with an analysis which says that liketa is best analyzed as an expression which generates sets of ordered alternatives following Penka (2006). I suggest that the alternatives receive their structure from the aspectual structure of the verb under liketa.

In this paper, I analyze the syntax and semantics of the approximative liketa as found in Appalachian English. Liketa is commonly translated to standard American English as almost. I present syntactic facts from extrapostion, yes/no question response, and hierarchy of projections which suggest that liketa is in fact a verb and not an adverb like almost. I use this syntactic analysis to show that a verbal decomposition analysis of the semantics of almost and German fast is not sufficient to explain liketa's unique set of interpretations. Instead I propose that liketa's interpretations are best captured with an analysis which says that liketa is best analyzed as an expression which generates sets of ordered alternatives following Penka (2006). I suggest that the alternatives receive their structure from the aspectual structure of the verb under liketa.

This study aimed to examine the association between performance of self-care activities and patient or disease factors as well as patient activation levels in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Australia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among adults with diabetes and CKD (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73m(2) ) who were recruited from renal and diabetes clinics of four tertiary hospitals in Australia. Demographic and clinical data were collected, as well as responses to the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) scale. Regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between activation and performance of self-care activities. A total of 317 patients (70% men) with a mean age of 66.9 (SD=11.0) years participated. The mean (SD) PAM and composite SDSCA scores were 57.6 (15.5) % (range 0-100) and 37.3 (11.2) (range 0-70), respectively. Younger age, being male, advanced stages of CKD and shorter durati...