Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns

Non-local phonological patterns can be difficult to analyze in the context of speech production models. Some patterns – e.g., vowel harmonies, nasal harmonies – can be readily analyzed to arise from temporal extension of articulatory gestures (i.e., spreading); such patterns can be viewed as articul...

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Main Author: Sam Tilsen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-09-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02143/full
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spelling doaj-4c39510fa1b14c5c999c3fe1b83c8bb12020-11-25T01:27:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-09-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.02143459898Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological PatternsSam TilsenNon-local phonological patterns can be difficult to analyze in the context of speech production models. Some patterns – e.g., vowel harmonies, nasal harmonies – can be readily analyzed to arise from temporal extension of articulatory gestures (i.e., spreading); such patterns can be viewed as articulatorily local. However, there are other patterns – e.g., nasal consonant harmony, laryngeal feature harmony – which cannot be analyzed as spreading; instead these patterns appear to enforce agreement between features of similar segments without affecting intervening segments. Indeed, there are numerous typological differences between spreading harmonies and agreement harmonies, and this suggests that there is a mechanistic difference in the ways that spreading and agreement harmonies arise. This paper argues that in order to properly understand spreading and agreement patterns, the gestural framework of Articulatory Phonology must be enriched with respect to how targets of the vocal tract are controlled in planning and production. Specifically, it is proposed that production models should distinguish between excitatory and inhibitory articulatory gestures, and that gestures which are below a selection threshold can influence the state of the vocal tract, despite not being active. These ideas are motivated by several empirical phenomena, which include anticipatory posturing before production of a word form, and dissimilatory interactions in distractor-target response paradigms. Based on these ideas, a model is developed which provides two distinct mechanisms for the emergence of non-local phonological patterns.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02143/fullArticulatory PhonologySelection-coordination theorylocalityphonologyharmony
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sam Tilsen
spellingShingle Sam Tilsen
Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
Frontiers in Psychology
Articulatory Phonology
Selection-coordination theory
locality
phonology
harmony
author_facet Sam Tilsen
author_sort Sam Tilsen
title Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
title_short Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
title_full Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
title_fullStr Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
title_full_unstemmed Motoric Mechanisms for the Emergence of Non-local Phonological Patterns
title_sort motoric mechanisms for the emergence of non-local phonological patterns
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2019-09-01
description Non-local phonological patterns can be difficult to analyze in the context of speech production models. Some patterns – e.g., vowel harmonies, nasal harmonies – can be readily analyzed to arise from temporal extension of articulatory gestures (i.e., spreading); such patterns can be viewed as articulatorily local. However, there are other patterns – e.g., nasal consonant harmony, laryngeal feature harmony – which cannot be analyzed as spreading; instead these patterns appear to enforce agreement between features of similar segments without affecting intervening segments. Indeed, there are numerous typological differences between spreading harmonies and agreement harmonies, and this suggests that there is a mechanistic difference in the ways that spreading and agreement harmonies arise. This paper argues that in order to properly understand spreading and agreement patterns, the gestural framework of Articulatory Phonology must be enriched with respect to how targets of the vocal tract are controlled in planning and production. Specifically, it is proposed that production models should distinguish between excitatory and inhibitory articulatory gestures, and that gestures which are below a selection threshold can influence the state of the vocal tract, despite not being active. These ideas are motivated by several empirical phenomena, which include anticipatory posturing before production of a word form, and dissimilatory interactions in distractor-target response paradigms. Based on these ideas, a model is developed which provides two distinct mechanisms for the emergence of non-local phonological patterns.
topic Articulatory Phonology
Selection-coordination theory
locality
phonology
harmony
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02143/full
work_keys_str_mv AT samtilsen motoricmechanismsfortheemergenceofnonlocalphonologicalpatterns
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