SLP 330: Chapters 8-11 FINAL

Which acoustic cue is most directly affected by transglottal airflow during stop production?

A. Burst spectrum

B. Formant transition slope

C. Voice onset time

D. Vowel duration

E. Nasal murmur

C. Voice onset time

T/F: Voiceless stops always exhibit complete silence during the stop gap regardless of context.

False

(Voiceless stops often show complete silence, but context can introduce aspiration, incomplete closure, or other low-level acoustic energy)

What is the time between stop release and onset of voicing called?

Voice onset time (VOT)

Which feature best distinguishes bilabial from velar stops acoustically?

A. Presence of aspiration

B. Duration of stop gap

C. Spectral shape of burst

D. Presence of voicing bar

E. Vowel duration

C. Spectral shape of burst

T/F: Aspiration occurs after both voiced and voiceless stops equally.

False

(Aspiration is characteristic of voiceless stops; voiced stops usually have little or no aspiration)

What is the simultaneous articulation of adjacent phonemes called?

Coarticulation

Which pattern indicates a velar 'pinch'?

A. F1 and F2 converge

B. F2 and F3 converge

C. F1 and F3 diverge

D. All formants flatten

E. Only F3 rises

B. F2 and F3 converge

T/F: F1 transitions are critical for identifying place of articulation in stops.

False
(Place of articulation for stops is identified mainly from higher formant transitions, especially F2 and F3.)

What is a brief noise burst following stop release called?

Release burst

Which fricative class has the highest frequency energy concentration?

A. Labiodental

B. Dental

C. Alveolar

D. Glottal

E. Bilabial

C. Alveolar

T/F: The Venturi effect describes decreased airflow velocity through a narrow constriction.

False

(The Venturi effect involves increased airflow velocity and reduced pressure as air passes through a narrow constriction)

What is the ratio of nasal to total acoustic energy called?

Nasalance

Which feature primarily distinguishes /s/ from /ʃ/ acoustically?

A. VOT

B. Burst duration

C. Spectral frequency distribution

D. Voicing bar

E. Nasal airflow

C. Spectral frequency distribution

T/F: Voiced fricatives rely solely on frication noise for acoustic identity.

False
(Voiced fricatives are identified by frication noise plus voicing cues like a voicing bar, periodicity, transitions, and timing.)

What is the low-frequency energy around 250-500 Hz in nasals called?

Nasal murmur

Which characteristic is most typical of nasals?

A. High intraoral pressure

B. Strong burst noise

C. Low-frequency resonance with damping

D. High-frequency frication

E. Complete silence

C. Low-frequency resonance with damping

T/F: Nasal place of articulation is easily identified from acoustic structure alone.

False
(Nasal place cues are weak and context-dependent, making them difficult to identify from the acoustic signal alone.)

What are acoustic zeros created by airflow division called?

Antiformants

Which best explains why vowels before voiced consonants are longer?

A. Increased airflow

B. Reduced damping

C. Timing adjustments in voicing

D. Increased intraoral pressure

E. Shorter VOT

C. Timing adjustments in voicing.

T/F: Glides function as syllabic nuclei like vowels.

False
(Glides are nonsyllabic approximants and do not function as the syllabic nucleus.)

Slow formant transitions (75-250 ms) are characteristic of ________.

Glides

Which acoustic cue signals /r/ production?

A. Rising F2

B. Decreasing F3

C. Increased F1

D. Burst noise

E. Nasal murmur

B. Decreasing F3

T/F: The /l/ sound produces antiformants due to lateral airflow.

True

The lowering of F0 after voiced stops is part of what type of cueing?

Voicing

Which factor most influences intraoral air pressure?

A. Vowel height

B. Degree of constriction

C. Formant frequency

D. Lip rounding only

E. Vocal fold tension only

B. Degree of constriction

T/F: Hypernasality improves speech intelligibility by enhancing resonance.

False
(Hypernasality usually reduces intelligibility because excessive nasal resonance and airflow weaken normal oral resonance and consonant contrasts.)

What type of airflow does the aerodynamic process of speech involve?

Egressive

Which instrumentation tracks articulator movement using electromagnetic fields?

A. EPG

B. EMMA

C. Nasometer

D. Strain gauge

E. Spectrogram

B. EMMA

T/F: Electropalatography records airflow through the nasal cavity.

False
(Electropalatography records patterns of tongue-to-palate contact)

What is the turbulent airflow noise in fricatives called?

Frication

Which feature differentiates voiced vs voiceless stops most reliably?

A. Burst amplitude

B. VOT

C. F1 transition

D. Lip rounding

E. Nasal airflow

B. VOT

T/F: VOT exists as strictly two categories with no overlap.

False
(VOT is a continuum, and categories can overlap across speakers, contexts, and languages.)

Anticipatory coarticulation is also known by what other name?

Forward coarticulation

Which best describes /h/ acoustically?

A. High energy, narrow spectrum

B. Low energy, broad spectrum

C. Strong burst noise

D. High VOT

E. Nasal murmur

B. Low energy, broad spectrum.

T/F: Sibilants have lower energy than nonsibilant fricatives.

False
(Sibilants generally have greater intensity and more concentrated high-frequency energy.)

What is the "pop" sound of stops called?

Release burst

Which acoustic feature is most associated with approximants?

A. Burst noise

B. High VOT

C. Slow formant transitions

D. Nasal murmur

E. Silence gap

C. Slow formant transitions.

T/F: The nasal murmur has high amplitude and strong higher-frequency energy.

False
(Nasal murmur is dominated by low-frequency energy and damping)

Which statement comes closest to what prosody is doing in connected speech?

A. It identifies which consonant or vowel category is present, apart from any larger speech pattern.

B. It organizes pitch, loudness, and timing across an utterance so that meaning can shift without changing the words.

C. It serves mainly to add emotion after the linguistic message has already been fully specified by segmental content alone.

D. It reflects speech rate only, because rate is the one prosodic property that consistently reshapes meaning.

E. It marks only sentence type, whereas emphasis and boundary perception are handled by segmental contrasts.

B. It organizes pitch, loudness, and timing across an utterance so that meaning can shift without changing the words.

Another term for the prosodic level of speech is the __________ level.

Suprasegmental

T/F: Because prosody is described as suprasegmental, it should be analyzed as

operating apart from the actual vowels and consonants that realize it.

False

In a nontonal language, what most sharply distinguishes utterance-level intonation from lexical tone?

A. Intonation relies on intensity, whereas lexical tone relies on pitch alone.

B. Intonation helps organize pitch over larger units of speech, whereas lexical tone helps distinguish lexical meaning at the word level.

C. Intonation occurs only at phrase endings, whereas lexical tone occurs only on stressed syllables.

D. Intonation is optional in casual speech, whereas lexical tone is restricted to careful speech.

E. Intonation changes word class, whereas lexical tone changes only speaker attitude

B. Intonation helps organize pitch over larger units of speech, whereas lexical tone helps distinguish lexical meaning at the word level.

The perceptual label for utterance-level pitch contour is ____________.

Intonation

T/F: Declination can be fully explained by falling lung pressure.

False

In the spectrogram item contrasting two productions that differ in the occlusion of a voiced plosive, the most defensible classification of that difference is which of the following?

A. A change in lexical stress because the more prolonged occlusion increases prominence.

B. A change in duration that contributes to timing and may alter perceived boundary structure.

C. A change in vowel identity because the occlusion affects the surrounding formants.

D. A change in intonation because the utterance-level contour must shift when occlusion changes.

E. A change in sonority because the plosive becomes relatively louder than adjacent sounds.

B. A change in duration that contributes to timing and may alter perceived boundary structure.

The perceptual feature of timing is composed of ______________ and _____________.

Rate, rhythm

Which definition best captures sonority as it is used in this chapter?

A. The absolute acoustic amplitude of any sound measured independently of context.

B. The loudness level of a sound judged relative to other sounds of similar length, pitch, and stress.

C. The degree to which a syllable carries lexical stress in citation form.

D. The amount of phrase-final pitch lowering that occurs across an utterance.

E. The average duration of vowels when phrase prominence is absent.

B. The loudness level of a sound judged relative to other sounds of similar length, pitch, and stress.

T/F: At the prosodic level, intensity contour and fundamental frequency contour often covary rather than behaving as wholly unrelated patterns.

True

When a syllable becomes longer near the end of a phrase, what is the strongest interpretation?

A. The word has acquired a new lexical stress pattern specific to phrase-final position.

B. The speaker is signaling a semantic or prosodic boundary through preboundary lengthening.

C. The syllable has become contrastively stressed because phrase endings demand emphasis.

D. The utterance-level intonation contour has been neutralized and replaced by timing.

E. The segment has reverted to its intrinsic duration, which had been suppressed earlier in the phrase.

B. The speaker is signaling a semantic or prosodic boundary through preboundary lengthening.

The gradual tendency for fundamental frequency to decrease across an utterance is called ________.

Declination.

T/F: A prosodic feature can be interpreted adequately from a single isolated value without reference to the relative pattern formed by neighboring values of that same feature.

False

Which statement most accurately separates syllabic stress from phrase prominence?

A. Syllabic stress is determined by speaker intent, whereas phrase prominence is fixed by the lexical rules of the language.

B. Syllabic stress is a word-internal pattern shaped by language-based constraints, whereas phrase prominence reflects speaker-selected focus within an intonation unit.

C. Syllabic stress is cued mainly by duration, whereas phrase prominence is cued mainly by intensity, with little overlap.

D. Syllabic stress applies only to content words, whereas phrase prominence can apply only to function words.

E. Syllabic stress is perceptual, whereas phrase prominence is strictly acoustic

B. Syllabic stress is a word-internal pattern shaped by language-based constraints, whereas phrase prominence reflects speaker-selected focus within an intonation unit.

Speaker-chosen emphasis placed on one or more syllables within an intonation unit for purposes of conveying meaning is called phrase __________.

Prominence

Which cue bundle most plausibly marks a stressed syllable?

A. Lower relative pitch, lower relative intensity, and shorter relative duration than neighboring syllables.

B. Higher relative pitch, greater relative intensity, and longer relative duration, although the exact weighting of cues may vary by context.

C. Greater relative intensity alone, because duration and pitch are not reliable contributors to stress perception.

D. Longer duration alone, because stress must be measurable even when pitch and intensity remain flat.

E. A categorical shift in vowel quality that overrides all suprasegmental patterning

B. Higher relative pitch, greater relative intensity, and longer relative duration, although the exact weighting of cues may vary by context

T/F: Because syllabic stress is language-defined, a speaker may relocate stress to any other syllable in a word whenever communicative emphasis is needed.

False

(because lexical stress is constrained by language and word form)

The three cues most commonly associated with syllabic stress are higher _________, greater _________, and longer __________.

pitch, intensity, duration

Which claim is most defensible regarding the search for a single defining acoustic cue for syllabic stress and phrase prominence?

A. Fundamental frequency is the defining cue for both across contexts, with duration and intensity serving only as redundant support.

B. Intensity is the defining cue for both across contexts, because listeners attend first to loudness differences.

C. Duration is the defining cue for stress, whereas fundamental frequency is the defining cue for prominence, with no meaningful overlap.

D. No single acoustic dimension has been proven to define either one uniformly across contexts.

E. Juncture is the defining cue for both, because boundaries determine which syllables stand out.

D. No single acoustic dimension has been proven to define either one uniformly across contexts

T/F: Only one syllable or word in an utterance can receive phrase prominence

False

Which definition comes closest to the chapter's treatment of speech rhythm?

A. The equal spacing of stressed syllables across all utterances in a language.

B. The recurrent patterning of strong and weak prosodic elements, including temporal and spectral organization.

C. The number of pauses inserted between breath groups during connected speech.

D. The alternation of lexical stress and unstress inside single words only.

E. The perceived speed of articulation once segmental identities are held constant

B. The recurrent patterning of strong and weak prosodic elements, including temporal and spectral organization

Traditionally, languages were described as ________ timed, ________ timed, and mora timed.

stress, syllable

T/F: Speech rhythm can be explained adequately in temporal terms alone, because spectral patterning does not contribute in any meaningful way to rhythm perception.

False

In the temporal metrics described in the chapter, what is segmented first?

A. Stressed syllables and unstressed syllables

B. Content words and function words

C. Vocalic intervals and consonantal intervals

D. Intonation units and boundary tones

E. Breath groups and silent pauses

C. Vocalic intervals and consonantal intervals.

The temporal rhythm metric that compares the duration of sequential pairs of vocalic or consonantal intervals is called the _____.

pairwise variability index (PVI)

Within the rhythm measures discussed in the chapter, what does ΔV refer to?

A. The mean duration of stressed syllables within an intonation unit

B. The standard deviation of vocalic interval durations

C. The mean difference between phrase-final and phrase-medial syllables

D. The variance of prominence placement across repeated productions

E. The ratio of consonantal intervals to vocalic intervals across a phrase

B. The standard deviation of vocalic interval durations

T/F: A language described as being toward the syllable-timed end of a continuum must exhibit syllables of literally equal duration in running speech. If false, provide a rationale

False

Which option best captures the prosodic side of accentedness highlighted in the chapter?

A. Accentedness is determined mainly by consonant and vowel substitution, with prosody contributing only when intelligibility breaks down.

B. Accentedness can reflect stress placement, the extent of vowel reduction, and language-specific use of intonation, timing, and loudness.

C. Accentedness is largely equivalent to faster-than-average speaking rate, because rate compresses prosodic contrast.

D. Accentedness follows directly from reduced lexical knowledge, because unfamiliar words disrupt speech rhythm.

E. Accentedness disappears whenever a speaker maintains correct syllabic stress inside words

B. Accentedness can reflect stress placement, the extent of vowel reduction, and language-specific use of intonation, timing, and loudness.

One major contributor to accentedness discussed in the chapter is the extent of vowel _____.

Reduction

T/F: Languages do not all rely on pitch, duration, and loudness in exactly the same way when marking stress and prominence

True

Which answer best matches a broad definition of prosody?

A. It conveys linguistic information only, because paralinguistic and nonlinguistic meaning is not part of the speech signal itself.

B. It conveys linguistic and emotional information only, because nonlinguistic information falls outside speech production.

C. It systematically organizes linguistic units into an utterance and can convey linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic information.

D. It serves mainly as an overlay added after phoneme selection and therefore is not part of speech production proper.

E. It refers to any feature that improves intelligibility, regardless of whether pitch, loudness, or timing are involved.

C. It systematically organizes linguistic units into an utterance and can convey linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic information.

A broad account of prosody includes segmental and __________ features of speech.

Suprasegmental

T/F: Prosodic changes can be called suprasegmental even if they are achieved through segmental speech events.

True

Which clinical statement is the strongest one based on the chapter materials?

A. A child may show pragmatic difficulty while prosody remains intact, because social communication and prosody are unrelated domains.

B. A motor planning problem should spare prosody, because prosody is not dependent on rapid movement coordination.

C. Prosodic difficulty may arise in both pragmatic language problems and movement-based speech disorders, although the underlying reasons differ.

D. Once segmental articulation is accurate, prosodic impairment can be ruled out with reasonable confidence.

E. Prosodic difficulty is best treated as a loudness problem unless clear pitch errors are also present.

C. Prosodic difficulty may arise in both pragmatic language problems and movement-based speech disorders, although the underlying reasons differ

In the chapter's clinical contrast, one language relies on lexical tone, whereas the other relies more centrally on lexical ______.

Stress

T/F: Because two languages both use pitch, prosody treatment should target the same functions of pitch in each language

False
(They may use pitch for different functions)

Which explanation best connects acoustic theory of speech production to a prosodic speech-voice deficit?

A. Acoustic theory is largely irrelevant, because prosody is determined by syntax and pragmatics rather than by source and filter events.

B. A speaker who cannot generate or shape sufficient acoustic contrast through respiratory-laryngeal and vocal tract adjustments is likely to show weakened prosodic distinctions.

C. Acoustic theory applies to vowels and consonants but not to loudness, pitch patterning, or boundary marking.

D. Prosodic deficits are best explained as failures of lexical access, because word choice controls most acoustic variation across an utterance.

E. Acoustic theory matters only when intonation is abnormal, not when stress, prominence, or timing are reduced

B. A speaker who cannot generate or shape sufficient acoustic contrast through respiratory-laryngeal and vocal tract adjustments is likely to show weakened prosodic distinctions.

A speech sample that sounds flat may reflect reduced pitch movement, weak _____, or poorly timed pausing

loudness contrast

What is the most appropriate first focus when a child repeats 'tea' after both 'key' and 'tea' models?

A. Articulatory placement

B. Airflow shaping

C. Listening contrast

D. Phrase-level practice

E. Rate control

C. Listening contrast

What does the speech loop depend on to influence future productions?

Feedback

T/F: The speech loop assumes speech production operates independently of perception.

False

A client is understood by one familiar listener but not by a new talker. Which concept explains this?

A. Coarticulation

B. Perceptual normalization

C. Feedback fading

D. Airflow control

E. Motor strength

B. Perceptual normalization

How do listeners adjust across different voices?

Perceptual normalization

T/F: New talkers typically reduce processing demands compared to familiar talkers.

False

A client performs well in quiet but misses information in noise. What is the primary issue?

A. Movement precision

B. Listening in context

C. Vocal fold vibration

D. Articulatory strength

E. Pitch control

B. Listening in context

A child produces accurate single words but becomes unclear in connected speech. What explains this change?

A. Reduced perceptual categories

B. Increased coarticulation

C. Weak airflow

D. Poor feedback

E. Reduced resonance

B. Increased coarticulation

What is it called when sounds overlap and influence each other?

Coarticulation

T/F: Coarticulation effects are minimal in longer utterances.

False

A child produces /s/ correctly in "see" but not in "street." Why?

A. Weak listening

B. Cluster complexity

C. Poor pitch control

D. Reduced airflow

E. Perceptual normalization

B. Cluster complexity

A client is 90 percent accurate on word lists but still difficult to understand. What is missing?

A. Listening skills

B. Carryover

C. Airflow

D. Strength

E. Pitch range

B. Carryover

Practicing speech in varied contexts supports what?

Generalization

T/F: High drill accuracy guarantees conversational success.

False

A client loses accuracy when speaking faster. What is the main factor?

A. Reduced feedback

B. Increased overlap

C. Weak memory

D. Reduced airflow

E. Poor normalization

B. Increased overlap

A child cannot distinguish between two sounds. Which target is most appropriate?

A. Movement

B. Airflow

C. Sound category

D. Rate

E. Feedback

C. Sound category

When perception of contrasts is unstable, what should be targeted first?

Perception

T/F: Movement practice should begin before confirming contrast perception.

False

A child points correctly to contrasts but cannot produce them. What is the main issue?

A. Listening

B. Movement

C. Normalization

D. Airflow

E. Feedback

B. Movement

A client benefits only when given constant feedback. What is the concern?

A. Weak airflow

B. Dependency

C. Poor listening

D. Weak coarticulation

E. Reduced pitch

B. Dependency

Feedback should gradually become less _____ over time.

frequent

T/F: Frequent feedback should remain constant throughout therapy.

False

A client cannot sustain airflow for voicing contrasts. Which target fits best?

A. Sound

B. Movement

C. Airflow

D. Rate

E. Feedback

C. Airflow

A client becomes unclear during longer explanations but not short responses. Why?

A. Listening failure

B. Increased task demands

C. Weak categories

D. Airflow loss

E. Feedback removal

B. Increased task demands