On May 6, 2021,
Chandan Narayan presented Burst amplitude is affected by speaking rate: Cross-linguistic observations and implications.
Abstract
The relationship between speaking rate and burst amplitude in voiceless plosives was investigated in two languages with differing oro-laryngeal timing relationships for voicing, North American English and Indian Tamil. Burst amplitude was hypothesized to decrease in CV syllables with increasing speaking rate, as there is decreased time for intraoral pressure buildup behind the oral occlusion. In a production experiment increased speaking rate led to decreased burst amplitude (relative to vowel amplitude) in the F2/F3 range and above 3kHz. While the general effect was found in both languages, it was most pronounced in English, owing to its short-lag oro-laryngeal timing configuration. Implications for speech perception and sound change are discussed.