As research in speech production becomes more integrated with linguistic theory, it has become increasingly clear that segmental articulation cannot be understood independently of prosodic structure; such structure includes, but is not limited to, accent and phrasal organization. These high-level prosodic aspects of language pervade low-level articulatory behavior. Despite the pervasiveness of these effects, only a very few prosodic signatures have been identified at the level of articulatory patterning. The long term objective of the proposed research program is to understand how linguistic structure conditions the spatiotemporal realization of speech. Specifically, we investigate the relation between one aspect of prosodic structure -- phrasal structure -- and the control and coordination of articulation within a dynamical systems model of speech production. We adopt a three-pronged approach: experimental, theoretical, and computational. Experiments using articulatory kinematic data and concomitant computational modeling of their results will provide a profile of the manner in which patterning of articulatory gestures is shaped by prosodic context. Understanding the organization of these units of speech production as a function of the informational composition of utterances is critical to developing a unified account of the how abstract linguistic structure is communicated in spoken language. Hence, the research program will provide valuable insight into disorders, such as apraxia, that affect language production at the articulatory level, and it will contribute to a better understanding of prosody for speech recognition and synthesis purposes, also of importance to those with communication disorders.
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