It has been traditional in phonetic research to characterize monophthongs using a set of static formant frequencies, i.e., formant frequencies taken from a single time-point in the vowel or averaged over the time-course of the vowel. However, over the last twenty years a growing body of research has demonstrated that, at least for a number of dialects of North American English, vowels which are traditionally described as monophthongs often have substantial spectral change. Vowel inherent spectral change has been observed in speakers’ productions, and has also been found to have a substantial effect on listeners’ perception. In terms of acoustics, the traditional categorical distinction between monophthongs and diphthongs can be replaced by a gradient description of dynamic spectral patterns. This book includes chapters addressing various aspects of vowel inherent spectral change (VISC), including theoretical and experimental studies of the perceptually relevant aspects of VISC, the relationship between articulation (vocal-tract trajectories) and VISC, historical changes related VISC, cross-dialect, cross-language, and cross-age-group comparisons of VISC, the effects of VISC on second-language speech learning, and the use of VISC in forensic voice comparison.

It seems as if the fundamentals of how we produce vowels and how they are acoustically represented have been clarified: we phonate and articulate. Using our vocal chords, we produce a vocal sound or noise which is then shaped into a specific vowel sound by the resonances of the pharyngeal, oral, and nasal cavities, that is, the vocal tract. Accordingly, the acoustic description of vowels relates to vowelspecific patterns of relative energy maxima in the sound spectra, known as patterns of formants. The intellectual and empirical reasoning presented in this treatise, however, gives rise to scepticism with respect to this understanding of the sound of the vowel. The reflections and materials presented provide reason to argue that, up to now, a comprehensible theory of the acoustics of the voice and of voiced speech sounds is lacking, and consequently, no satisfying understanding of vowels as an achievement and particular formal accomplishment of the voice exists. Thus, the question of the acoustics of the vowel - and with it the question of the acoustics of the voice itself - proves to be an unresolved fundamental problem.

This paperbound reprint of a 1989 work for teachers of singing, performing singers, and vocal pedagogy students presents the insights of great teachers from the past--insights that have been lost or diluted over the years and which the author believes to be important to the art of teaching. In 18 chapters, Berton (emeritus, music, Colorado College) discusses the writings of Tosi, Garcia, Stockhausen, Sedie, Seiler, Lamperti, Shakespeare, Witherspoon, Lilli Lehmann, Byers, and Johnstone-Douglas. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A monthly journal on diseases of the ear-nose-throat.

This is Volume XII of twenty-one in a series on Cognitive Psychology. Originally published in 1930, this book is addressed to the general reader, with a preference for him or her that is interested in Speech from one or other of its practical aspects, namely, as a means for communicating and recording ideas, as the basis of the arts of literature poetry and song, or as one of the principal accomplishments distinguishing man from the lower animals. Some of the results arrived a t may be of interest to linguists, to teachers of speech to the deaf, and to those musicians or scientists who are concerned in the practice or teaching of voice production and elocution, or in the improvement or “humanising” of the tone of organ pipes and other wind instruments. Its aim is to give, in simple language, an account of some personal observations and experiments on the phenomenon of human speech, and some conclusions and suggestions as to its probable origin and future development.