Complete the account of speech acoustics.
The buzz produced at the larynx is the ______, and the vocal tract acts as a ______. Resonances of the tract are called ______, and the first of them varies inversely with vowel ______.
Word bank: source · filter · formants · height · harmonics · frontness
Hints
- The first pair names the two halves of the standard model.
- The last blank is the dimension F1 tracks, not the one F2 tracks.
Show the answer
The buzz produced at the larynx is the source, and the vocal tract acts as a filter. Resonances of the tract are called formants, and the first of them varies inversely with vowel height.
The final blank is the one to get right: F1 tracks height inversely and F2 tracks frontness. Swapping them makes every vowel chart unreadable, and it is the single most common error in a first phonetics exam.
Practise The Acoustics of Speech
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More questions on The Acoustics of Speech
- A speaker raises their pitch while continuing to say the same vowel. Why do the formants stay roughly where…
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