ERIC Number: EJ729276
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0269-9206
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Speech Production in Parkinson's Disease: I. An Electropalatographic Investigation of Tongue-Palate Contact Patterns
McAuliffe, Megan J.; Ward, Elizabeth C.; Murdoch, Bruce E.
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, v20 n1 p1-18 Jan-Feb 2006
Previous studies have indicated that consonant imprecision in Parkinson's disease (PD) may result from a reduction in amplitude of lingual movements or articulatory undershoot. While this has been postulated, direct measurement of the tongue's contact with the hard palate during speech production has not been undertaken. Therefore, the present study aimed to use electropalatography (EPG) to determine the exact nature of tongue-palate contact in a group of individuals with PD and consonant imprecision (n=9). Furthermore, the current investigation also aimed to compare the results of the participants with PD to a group of aged (n=7) and young (n=8) control speakers to determine the relative contribution of ageing of the lingual musculature to any articulatory deficits noted. Participants were required to read aloud the phrase "I saw a ___ today" with the artificial palate in-situ. Target words included the consonants /l/, /s/ and /t/ in initial position in both the /i/ and /a/ vowel environments. Phonetic transcription of phoneme productions and description of error types was completed. Furthermore, representative frames of contact were employed to describe the features of tongue-palate contact and to calculate spatial palatal indices. Results of the perceptual investigation revealed that perceived undershooting of articulatory targets distinguished the participant group with PD from the control groups. However, objective EPG assessment indicated that undershooting of the target consonant was not the cause of the perceived articulatory errors. It is, therefore, possible that reduced pressure of tongue contact with the hard palate, sub-lingual deficits or impaired articulatory timing resulted in the perceived undershooting of the target consonants.
Descriptors: Diseases, Control Groups, Older Adults, Articulation (Speech), Comparative Analysis, Phonetics, Language Research, Speech Impairments
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A