title: Voice onset time versus articulatory modeling for stop consonants.
abstract: Voice onset time (VOT) was developed as a parameter for the pattern-playback speech synthesizer developed approximately 50 years ago, in order to generate the acoustic effects of voiced-unvoiced differences in English stop consonants. However, problems arose when the VOT parameter was used to define stops in actual spoken language, to replace aerodynamic and physiological parameters. A representative physiological model from the same time-period that avoided these problems is sketched. In this model, the manner-of-articulation of a stop is determined by the duration, timing, and extent of laryngeal, articulatory, and respiratory gestures. It is concluded that the term voice onset time should be used only as a parameter in speech synthesis, as originally intended, and not for the analysis of actual speech.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA. mrothenberg@glottal.com
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rothenberg
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D005931:Glottis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007830:Larynx / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D010700:Phonetics; D012119:Respiration; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality