Practice question · Multiple choice
Pitch depends on the rate of vocal fold vibration, whereas resonance depends on the shape of the vocal tract. Why does lip rounding lower vowel resonances without altering pitch?
Hints
- Where does lip rounding occur relative to the larynx?
- Which anatomical structure actually governs fundamental frequency?
Show the answer
D. It lengthens the acoustic tube above the larynx
Why
Rounding extends the oral tube without altering vocal fold tension or mass at the glottis. Conflating filter changes with phonation mechanics ignores that the three production systems operate in series.
Practise How Speech Is Produced
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More questions on How Speech Is Produced
- Why does lowering the velum during a bilabial closure change /b/ into /m/?
- Voicing can switch on and off within a single consonant.
- Sort each articulator by whether it is ACTIVE or PASSIVE.
- Approximately how long is the vocal tract of an adult male, in centimetres?
- Complete the account of speech production.
- Which follow from the fact that speakers produce ten to fifteen sounds per second?
- Match each structure to the contrast it controls.
- Clicks occur only as paralinguistic noises and never as ordinary consonants in a language.