Modularity and the Motor theory of Speech Perception


Book Description

A compilation of the proceedings of a conference held to honor Alvin M. Liberman for his outstanding contributions to research in speech perception, this volume deals with two closely related and controversial proposals for which Liberman and his colleagues at Haskins Laboratories have argued forcefully over the past 35 years. The first is that articulatory gestures are the units not only of speech production but also of speech perception; the second is that speech production and perception are not cognitive processes, but rather functions of a special mechanism. This book explores the implications of these proposals not only for speech production and speech perception, but for the neurophysiology of language, language acquisition, higher-level linguistic processing, the visual perception of phonetic gestures, the production and perception of sign language, the reading process, and learning to read. The contributors to this volume include linguists, psycholinguists, speech scientists, neurophysiologists, and ethologists. Liberman himself responds in the final chapter.




Speech Analysis Synthesis and Perception


Book Description

The first edition of this book has enjoyed a gratifying existence. 1s sued in 1965, it found its intended place as a research reference and as a graduate-Ievel text. Research laboratories and universities reported broad use. Published reviews-some twenty-five in number-were universally kind. Subsequently the book was translated and published in Russian (Svyaz; Moscow, 1968) and Spanish (Gredos, S.A.; Madrid, 1972). Copies of the first edition have been exhausted for several years, but demand for the material continues. At the behest of the publisher, and with the encouragement of numerous colleagues, a second edition was begun in 1970. The aim was to retain the original format, but to expand the content, especially in the areas of digital communications and com puter techniques for speech signal processing. As before, the intended audience is the graduate-Ievel engineer and physicist, but the psycho physicist, phonetician, speech scientist and linguist should find material of interest.




Voice and Articulation


Book Description




Experiments in Second-Language Learning


Book Description

Experiments in Second-Language Learning focuses on the application of mathematical learning models in learning the Russian language as a second language. The book first discusses remarks on stimulus-response theories of language learning. Psychology and second-language instruction; psychological theory; linguistic theory and second-language learning; and remarks on theories of conditioning are discussed. The text also focuses on learning to discriminate Russian phonemes; learning the orthographic representations of Russian sounds; and vocabulary and morphology learning. Learning exercises are presented; these focused on inflection, semantics, and phonemic transcriptions. The book also looks at grammar learning as influenced by translations, vocabulary, and presentation order; training on negative instances or on isolated words; overview of Russian grammar experiments; and related research. Suggestions for future research are presented. The text is highly valuable for readers interested in studying how mathematical learning models can be used in learning one particular language as a second language.




Speech: A dynamic process


Book Description

Speech: A dynamic process takes readers on a rigorous exploratory journey to expose them to the inherently dynamic nature of speech. The book addresses an intriguing question: Based only on physical principles alone, can the exploitation of a simple acoustic tube evolve into an optimal speech production system comparable to the one we possess? In the work presented, the tube is deformed step by step with the sole criterion of expending minimum effort to obtain maximum acoustic variations. At the end of this process, the tube is found divided into distinctive regions and an acoustic space emerges capable of generating speech sounds. Attaching this tube to a model, an inherently dynamic and efficient system is created. In the resulting system, optimal primitive trajectories are seen to naturally exist in the acoustic space and the regions defined in the tube correspond to the main places of articulation for oral vowels and plosive consonants. All this implies that these speech sounds are inherent properties of not only the modeled acoustic tube but also of the human speech production system. This book stands as a valuable resource for accomplished and aspiring speech scientists as well as for other interested persons in search for an introduction to speech acoustics that takes an unconventional path.







Hearing, Speech, and Communication Disorders


Book Description

Information analysis centers were developed to help the scientist and practitioner cope with the ever increasing mass of published and unpublished information in a specific field. Their establishment resulted from a further extension of those pressures that had brought about the formation of the specialized primary journal and the abstracting services at the turn of the century. The information analysis center concept was greatly advanced by the 1963 report of the President's Science Advisory Committee Panel on Science Information. This report stated: " . . . scientific interpreters who can collect relevant data, review a field, and distill information in a manner that goes to the heart of a technical situation are more help to the overburdened specialist than is a mere pile of relevant docu ments. " Such specialized information centers are operated in closest possible contact with working scientists in the field. These centers not only furnish information about ongoing research and dis seminate and retrieve information but also create new information and develop new methods of infor mation analysis, synthesis, and dissemination. The continually expanding biomedical literature produced by scientists from the world's laboratories, research centers, and medical centers led the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke in 1964 to initiate a National Neurological Information Network of specialized centers for neurological information. The Centers are designed to bring under control and to promote ready access to important segments of the literature.




Developmental Phonological Disorders


Book Description

Developmental Phonological Disorders: Foundations of Clinical Practice, Second Edition is the only graduate-level textbook designed for a competency-based approach to teaching, learning, and assessment. The book provides a deep review of the knowledge base necessary for the competent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of developmental phonological disorders. Thoroughly revised and updated, the textbook contains learning objectives in each chapter to further support understanding of concepts and carefully designed case studies and demonstrations to promote application to clinical problem solving. Key Features: Learning objectives for each chapter subsectionIncludes the "how, why, and when" to apply each assessment and treatment procedure in clinical practice62 tables containing clinically relevant information such as normative data to interpret phonological assessment results99 figures to support clinical decision making such as recommending a treatment delivery model, selecting treatment targets, or choosing evidence-based interventions35 case studies to support a competency-based approach to teaching and assessment35 demonstrations that show how to implement assessment and treatment procedures The second edition provides a comprehensive overview of seminal studies and leading-edge research on both phonological development and phonological disorders, including motor speech disorders and emergent literacy. This wealth of theoretical background is integrated with detailed descriptions and demonstrations of clinical practice, allowing the speech-language pathologist to design interventions that are adapted to the unique needs of each child while being consistent with the best research evidence. New to the Second Edition: Updated and expanded section on childhood apraxia of speechUpdated and expanded sections on the identification and treatment of inconsistent phonological disorderAdministration and interpretation of the Syllable Repetition Task addedAdministration and interpretation of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology added with case studies and demonstrationsNew organization, formatting, and editing to reduce the size of the bookCase studies revised to a single-page formatImproved Table of Contents to ease access to content, including norms tables, case studies, and demonstrations







Speech Motor Dynamics in Stuttering


Book Description

The present book arose from a conference on Speech Motor Dynamics in Stuttering held at the University of Nijmegen in Nijmegen, the Netherlands from June 13-15, 1985. The conference was organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Department of Speech Pathology of the University Hospital. The topic selected for the conference and now developed within this book, Speech Motor Dynamics in Stuttering, was judged to be particularly timely and especially relevant to an emerging body of work on stuttering. For over ten years there had been no confer ences that brought together researchers who have worked on stuttering from perspectives stressing the dynamics of motor processes. Yet during that time major changes have occurred in research on stuttering which signify a growing level of scientific maturity within the problem area. This book attempts to character ize a number of major trends in research on speech motor processes in stuttering. There has been a lessening in the postulation of causes of stuttering in the form of global hypothesis which have tenuous ties to empi rical data. New ideas about speech motor processes in stuttering have been stimulated by researchers who have done productive work on more general issues of motor control. This book therefore directs our attention to a number of models of speech production which are relevant to stuttering.