Comparing Velum Velocity in Québécois French Nasals

Authors

  • Annabelle Purnomo University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics
  • Nicole Ebbutt University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics
  • Charissa Purnomo <p>University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics</p>
  • Jahurul Islam University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics
  • Gillian de Boer University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics
  • Bryan Gick University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics &amp; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven

Abstract

Our previous research has found that nasal consonants and nasal vowels in Québécois French have a similar size of velopharyngeal port opening (VPO) [de Boer et al., under review]. Based on previous reports of a moderate positive correlation between VPO and velum velocity [Kollia et al., 1995, JASA., 98(3), 1313-24], we hypothesise that nasal consonants and nasal vowels will have similar velum velocities. This study compares the velocities of the opening and closing of the velopharyngeal port (VPP) between nasal consonants and nasal vowels in French. Data was collected from an X-ray videofluorographic database that contains sentence-level speech from 9 (5 male, 4 female) native speakers of Québécois French. Using ImageJ [Rasband, 2018], we tracked VPP opening and closing movements along the sagittal plane of the vocal tract. To measure the velocity of velum movement, we fitted simple linear regression models with the VPO of the opening and closing phases and used their slopes as a proxy for velocity. The effect of segment differences (nasal consonant vs. nasal vowel) on velocity was analysed using linear mixed-effects models. Results indicate that the velum has greater velocities during vowel production than during consonant production. This is contrary to our hypothesis that nasal consonants and nasal vowels would have similar velocities and suggests that velocity can also be influenced by sound type. It’s important to note that this difference might not be consistent across datasets.

Author Biographies

Annabelle Purnomo, University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics

Undergraduate Researcher in the Department of Linguistics

Nicole Ebbutt, University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics

Undergraduate Researcher in the Department of Linguistics

Charissa Purnomo, <p>University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics</p>

Undergraduate Researcher in the Department of Linguistics

Jahurul Islam, University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics

Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Linguistics

Gillian de Boer, University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics

Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Linguistics

Bryan Gick, University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics &amp; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven

Principal Investigator at the Integrated Speech Research Laboratory

Additional Files

Published

2022-07-05

How to Cite

1.
Purnomo A, Ebbutt N, Purnomo C, Islam J, de Boer G, Gick B. Comparing Velum Velocity in Québécois French Nasals. Canadian Acoustics [Internet]. 2022 Jul. 5 [cited 2024 Dec. 7];50(3):98-9. Available from: https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/3843

Issue

Section

Proceedings of the Acoustics Week in Canada

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