engleski

Tongue-to-palate contact patterns and variability of Croatian vowels

Normative data on typical vowel productions are important for successful vowel disorders diagnostics and therapy. Electropalatography (EPG) is not an ideal technique for vowel analysis and treatment mainly for two reasons: tongue-to-palate contact is relatively low during most vowels and EPG is limited to laboratories where natural communicative situations are difficult to create. Nevertheless, EPG is the only technique which offers information about one of the most important aspects articulation, i.e. tongue-to-palate contact. It is therefore important to develop improved EPG indices for vowel quantification and to elicit EPG data in a relatively natural communicative situation. The first aim of this investigation is to develop EPG indices for the quantification of Croatian corner vowels on the vertical and the horizontal axis of the vowel chart. The second aim is to compare vowel productions in isolated sentences and quasi-spontaneous speech, with the purpose of providing normative EPG data. Speech material from eight typical female speakers of Standard Croatian was used. Fifteen two-syllable CVCV words (V = /i, a, u/) were recorded in two communicative situations: embedded in carrier sentences, and elicited while describing the path through a maze. Two newly developed EPG indices were used to quantify the horizontal and the vertical position and the variability of each vowel. The significance of differences was tested using Repeated measures ANOVA. The vertical and the horizontal position of the three corner vowels were quantified for each speaker. Differences between vowels were significant and variability was largest for the mid-open /a/. Significant and consistent differences were also found between vowels produced in two different communicative situations. This investigation showed that EPG is sensitive enough to quantify vowels along the two axes of the vowel chart and to reveal differences between vowels produced in isolated sentences and quasi-spontaneous speech. Implications for clinical applications are discussed.

electropalatography (EPG), vowels, EPG indices, lab speech, spontaneous speech, Croatian

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