Subject: Re: Stop consonant identification based on initial spectra? From: Robert Zatorre <robert.zatorre(at)mcgill.ca> Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 12:07:28 -0500--=====================_6435490==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed You are looking for the classic papers of my former teacher, Sheila Blumstein: Blumstein SE. Stevens KN. Acoustic invariance in speech production: evidence from measurements of the spectral characteristics of stop consonants. [Journal Article] Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 66(4):1001-17, 1979 Oct. and Blumstein SE. Stevens KN. Perceptual invariance and onset spectra for stop consonants in different vowel environments. [Journal Article] Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 67(2):648-62, 1980 Feb. --Robert PS: I too vote we stop with the pet anecdotes and get onto the much more interesting questions just raised by other people! At 11:06 02/03/05 -0500, you wrote: >I'm sorry to interrupt the current frenzy of pet anecdotes (in which no one >has yet mentioned fish)... > >I'm looking for a reference that reports whether or not humans can identify >stop consonants based on their initial spectra--before the formant >transitions to the following vowel. Secondarily (though I suppose more >fundamentally), are the initial spectra (first 10 msec or however long >*before* formant transitions) invariant with respect to following vowels? >Differences between voiced and unvoiced? > >Background: I had been well indoctrinated in the motor theory of speech >perception, teaching my students the wonders of categorical perception of >stop consonants despite widely varying formant transition profiles across >different vowels (i.e., /di/ looks rather different than /du/ but we >identify /d/ in both). A recent conference poster looking at >neurophysiological spectral representation in non-human primate suggested >that response to spectra of stop consonants (without the following formant >transitions) was sufficient to distinguish and identify them. Alas, I did >not get the relevant human reference and have been unable to find one in an >informal search of my reference books and MEDLINE. > >Thanks in advance, >Peter > >: Peter Marvit, PhD <pmarvit(at)som.umaryland.edu> : >: Dept. Anatomy and Neurobiology University of Maryland Medical School: >: 20 Penn Street, HSF II, Room S251 Baltimore, MD 21201 : >: phone 410-706-1272 http://www.theearlab.org fax 410-706-2512 : -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Robert J. Zatorre, Ph.D. Montreal Neurological Institute 3801 University St. Montreal, QC Canada H3A 2B4 phone: 1-514-398-8903 fax: 1-514-398-1338 web site: www.zlab.mcgill.ca --=====================_6435490==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <font size=3D3><br> You are looking for the classic papers of my former teacher, Sheila Blumstein:<br> <br> Blumstein SE. Stevens KN. Acoustic invariance in speech production: evidence from measurements of the spectral characteristics of stop consonants. [Journal Article] Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 66(4):1001-17, 1979 Oct. <br> <br> and<br> <br> Blumstein SE. Stevens KN. Perceptual invariance and onset spectra for stop consonants in different vowel environments. [Journal Article] Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 67(2):648-62, 1980 Feb. <br> <br> <br> --Robert<br> <br> PS: I too vote we stop with the pet anecdotes and get onto the much more interesting questions just raised by other people!<br> <br> At 11:06 02/03/05 -0500, you wrote:<br> <blockquote type=3Dcite cite>I'm sorry to interrupt the current frenzy of pet anecdotes (in which no one<br> has yet mentioned fish)...<br> <br> I'm looking for a reference that reports whether or not humans can identify<br> stop consonants based on their initial spectra--before the formant<br> transitions to the following vowel. Secondarily (though I suppose more<br> fundamentally), are the initial spectra (first 10 msec or however long<br> *before* formant transitions) invariant with respect to following vowels?<br> Differences between voiced and unvoiced?<br> <br> Background: I had been well indoctrinated in the motor theory of speech<br> perception, teaching my students the wonders of categorical perception of<br> stop consonants despite widely varying formant transition profiles across<br> different vowels (i.e., /di/ looks rather different than /du/ but=20 we<br> identify /d/ in both). A recent conference poster looking at<br> neurophysiological spectral representation in non-human primate suggested<br> that response to spectra of stop consonants (without the following formant<br> transitions) was sufficient to distinguish and identify them. Alas, I did<br> not get the relevant human reference and have been unable to find one in an<br> informal search of my reference books and MEDLINE.<br> <br> Thanks in advance,<br> Peter<br> <br> : Peter Marvit, PhD &= nbsp;  = ; <pmarvit(at)som.umaryland.edu> :<br> : Dept. Anatomy and Neurobiology University of Maryland Medical School:<br> : 20 Penn Street, HSF II, Room S251 = Baltimore, MD 21201 :<br> : phone 410-706-1272 <a href=3D"http://www.theearlab.org=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0/" eudora=3D"autourl">http= ://www.theearlab.org </a> fax 410-706-2512 :<br> </font></blockquote><br> <div>-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+</div> <br> <div>Robert J. Zatorre, Ph.D.</div> <div>Montreal Neurological Institute</div> <div>3801 University St.</div> <div>Montreal, QC Canada H3A 2B4</div> <div>phone: 1-514-398-8903</div> <div>fax: 1-514-398-1338</div> <div>web site: <a href=3D"http://www.zlab.mcgill.ca/"= EUDORA=3DAUTOURL>www.zlab.mcgill.ca</a></div> </html> --=====================_6435490==_.ALT--