Bryan Gick
Phonology Forum 2020
Keynote lecture abstract
Talking postures
Studies – and theories – of speech have typically focused on transient events – those that happen
over relatively short time intervals. However, many of the properties we associate with speechsounds are maintained over a longer time period. For example, unless otherwise specified, allhuman languages use primarily oral (i.e., non-nasal) sounds, use modal voice, and maintain aconsistent “articulatory setting” of the tongue. Each of these requires constant maintenance ofsome distinct “posture”: e.g., a closed velopharyngeal port, adducted vocal folds, and lateralbracing of the tongue. These longer-term aspects of speech are analogous to body postures.
Posture is a necessary part of any motor system, and is a precursor to other voluntary
movements such as reaching and walking (Ting, 2007). We have long known that speakers
maintain a “basic speech posture” (Öhman 1967), adopted prior to speaking (Perkell 1969). We
have since learned that speech postures are language-specific. For example, Gick et al. (2004)
showed that English and French speakers maintain distinct postures of the tongue, lips and otherparts of the vocal tract during the non-speech pauses between utterances, and Wilson et al.
(2007) showed similar findings for Japanese speakers. However, little has been known about
these postures, how and why they work, and how they fit into our theories of sound systems.
Previous studies have not generally attempted to observe how postural movements interact withtransient ones, nor have previous models attempted to provide coherent mechanisms for how
these interactions should work.
The oral region is arguably the most complicated part of the human body, used for many ofour most complex behaviors, many of which may overlap in time (think of whether you haveever been talking while, say, expressing a facial emotion, or chewing). Examples of postures inspeech and non-speech (e.g., emotion expression) domains will be considered. Biomechanicalsimulations and laboratory experiments will be used to show how postures operate on the same
principles as transient movements (except for the difference in duration), and all of these canoverlap with multiple other activations – whether transient or postural – through simple
superposition of muscle activations (Bizzi et al. 1991). A superposition model must also involvecommands to deactivate, known as inhibition or suppression. Through these examples of posture,
I will argue that no speech sound can be understood or even measured without seeing each soundas superimposed on a substrate of posture.
References
Bizzi, E., Mussa-Ivaldi, F. A., & Giszter, S. (1991). Computations underlying the execution ofmovement: a biological perspective. Science, 253(5017), 287-291.
Gick, B., Wilson, I., Koch, K., & Cook, C. (2004). Language-specific articulatory settings:
Evidence from inter-utterance rest position. Phonetica, 61(4), 220-233.
Öhman, S. (1967). Peripheral motor commands in labial articulation. Speech Transmission
Laboratory Quarterly Progress Status Report, 30-63.
Perkell, J. S. (1969). Physiology of speech production: Results and implications of a quantitative
cineradiographic study. MIT research monograph, No 53.
Ting, L. H. (2007). Dimensional reduction in sensorimotor systems: a framework forunderstanding muscle coordination of posture. Progress in brain research, 165, 299-321.
Wilson, I., Horiguchi, N., Gick, B. (2007). Japanese articulatory setting: the tongue, lips and jaw.
Presentation at UltraFest4: The Fourth Ultrasound Roundtable. New York University. New
York, NY. September 2007.