Physiological control of sibilant duration: Insights afforded by speech compensation to dental prostheses

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Abstract
Temporal relationships among tongue contact, phonation, and presence of frication [human speech] were examined for /s/and/z/ [consonants]. In cases were /s/ and /z/ were produced with a supraglottal articulation of the same duration, the duration of the resulting frication was 17 ms longer for /s/. The difference can be attributed to glottal activity. The presence of an unfamiliar dental prosthesis in the mouth caused the tongue to contact the alveolar ridge sooner and release later. This pysiological effect was reflected in lengthening of frication for sibilants, but the acoustical consequences were greater and more reliable for /z/ than for /s/. Reasons for this difference were sought in adaptation of timing of tongue contact, and in aerodynamic conditions expected for voiced vs. voiceless sibilants. A rapid adaptation of tongue contact timing was found, with the adaptation being greater for /s/. Timing of vocal fold adduction at the end of unvoiced sibilants, and its aerodynamic consequences, are suggested to contribute to the relative stability of /s/acoustical durations.

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