ABSTRACT The investigator will continue the development of a computational model of phonetic structure. The model is based on a particular dynamical systems approach called task dynamics, which abstractly characterizes speech gestures in terms of coordinated patterns of articular movements during speech production. The relative timing and parameterization of the gestures comprising a given utterance are specified by a gestural score that is generated by the model's linguistic gestural component. The focus of furhter development is the interaction of gestural organization with the global rhythimic structure of speech. Model development will be guided by collecting articulatory data showing the influence of stress on patterns of gestural cohesion. Also, the different types of gestural patterns that underlie reduced syllables will be investigated, in data to be collected from speakers of English, French and Hebrew. Because the model is based on such articulatory evidence, it particularly appropriate as a phonetic framework for use with recent non-linear phonologies that emphasize the phonological relevance of articulatory features. Futher, because the model is couched within a dynamical systems approach, it provides a concise and principled account of much variation in phonetic structures in terms of spatial and temporal overlap among speech gestures.
