Mechanisms in the Control of Speech Rate

Abstract

Mechanisms of speech rate control are discussed from the point of view that unidimensional models are inadequate to explain the extensive physiological and acoustical effects observed during changes in speech rate. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that changes in speech rate can result in changes in segmental duration, articulatory displacement, atriculatory velocity, and intrasyllabic coarticulation, and that these changes represent nonlinear transformations produced by a reorganization of speech motor strategies.