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The weaknesses of the tongue arching model of vowel articulation

Wood, Sidney A J LU (1975) In Working papers, Phonetics Laboratory, Department of General Linguistics, Lund University
Abstract
In 1867 Alexander Melville Bell conceived the high-low front-back tongue position model for vowels, including the concept of central vowels. This model was rapidly accepted by the phonetics community, but it has never been validated. This article reports an examination of 38 sets of X-ray tracings of vowels from 15 different languages, published in the past half century. This corroborates the charges made against the Bell model of failing to prescribe tongue positions correctly. Other criticsms concern the acoustic theory underlying the Bell model, which is not only oversimplistic but also misleading since the position of the tongue arch is irrelevant for the tuning of vocal resonances. The implications of invalidation for speech... (More)
In 1867 Alexander Melville Bell conceived the high-low front-back tongue position model for vowels, including the concept of central vowels. This model was rapidly accepted by the phonetics community, but it has never been validated. This article reports an examination of 38 sets of X-ray tracings of vowels from 15 different languages, published in the past half century. This corroborates the charges made against the Bell model of failing to prescribe tongue positions correctly. Other criticsms concern the acoustic theory underlying the Bell model, which is not only oversimplistic but also misleading since the position of the tongue arch is irrelevant for the tuning of vocal resonances. The implications of invalidation for speech production theory are discussed. The constancy of vocal tract configurations, compared with the ambiguity of tongue arch position, points to a more suitable type of model for vowel articulation in which individual gestures combine to shape the vocal cavities to the resonator configurations appropriate to the sound quality. (Less)
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organization
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type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
in
Working papers, Phonetics Laboratory, Department of General Linguistics, Lund University
ISSN
0348-4831
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f4feb362-6b8e-4798-8e74-226d8628816e (old id 529380)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:44:27
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:55:19
@misc{f4feb362-6b8e-4798-8e74-226d8628816e,
  abstract     = {{In 1867 Alexander Melville Bell conceived the high-low front-back tongue position model for vowels, including the concept of central vowels. This model was rapidly accepted by the phonetics community, but it has never been validated. This article reports an examination of 38 sets of X-ray tracings of vowels from 15 different languages, published in the past half century. This corroborates the charges made against the Bell model of failing to prescribe tongue positions correctly. Other criticsms concern the acoustic theory underlying the Bell model, which is not only oversimplistic but also misleading since the position of the tongue arch is irrelevant for the tuning of vocal resonances. The implications of invalidation for speech production theory are discussed. The constancy of vocal tract configurations, compared with the ambiguity of tongue arch position, points to a more suitable type of model for vowel articulation in which individual gestures combine to shape the vocal cavities to the resonator configurations appropriate to the sound quality.}},
  author       = {{Wood, Sidney A J}},
  issn         = {{0348-4831}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  series       = {{Working papers, Phonetics Laboratory, Department of General Linguistics, Lund University}},
  title        = {{The weaknesses of the tongue arching model of vowel articulation}},
  year         = {{1975}},
}