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The nature of the links between speech production and perception has been the subject of longstanding debate. The present study investigated the articulatory parameter of tongue height and the acoustic F1–F0 difference for the phonological distinction of vowel height in American English front vowels. Multiple repetitions of /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ/ in [(h)Vd] sequences were recorded in seven adult speakers. Articulatory (ultrasound) and acoustic data were collected simultaneously to provide a direct comparison of variability in vowel production in both domains. Results showed idiosyncratic patterns of articulation for contrasting the three front vowel pairs /i-ɪ/, /e-ɛ/, and /ɛ-æ/ across subjects, with the degree of variability in vowel articulation comparable to that observed in the acoustics for all seven participants. However, contrary to what was expected, some speakers showed reversals for tongue height for /ɪ/-/e/ that were also reflected in acoustics, with F1 higher for /ɪ/ than for /e/. The data suggest the phonological distinction of height is conveyed via speaker-specific articulatory-acoustic patterns that do not strictly match features descriptions. However, the acoustic signal is faithful to the articulatory configuration that generated it, carrying the crucial information for perceptual contrast.
Previous studies suggest that there are special timing relations in syllable onsets. The consonants are assumed to be timed, on the one hand, with the vocalic nucleus and, on the other hand, with each other. These competing timing relations result in the C-center effect. However, the C-center effect has not consistently been found in languages with complex onsets. Moreover, it has occasionally been found in languages disallowing complex onsets. The present study investigates onset timing in German while discussing alternative explanations (not related to bonding) for the timing patterns observed. Six German speakers were recorded via Electromagnetic Articulography. The corpus contained items with four clusters (/sk/, /kv/, /gl/, and /pl/). The clusters occur in word-initial position, word-medial position, and across a word boundary preceding different vowels. The results suggest that segmental properties (i.e., oral-laryngeal coordination, coarticulatory resistance) determine the observed timing patterns, and specifically the absence or presence of the C-center effect.
A Little Piece of the Shire
(2014)
The Traité élémentaire de chimie (1789) is considered to be the first modern chemistry text. After the author, Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1743 - 1794), had defined the element as a pure substance that cannot be broken down into simpler entities, he introduced the method of chemical terminology in which he represented the elements in a more practical way as symbols. The translator Juan Manuel Munárriz followed the author in his conviction that it is impossible to separate the nomenclature from science for three reasons: the scientific facts, the ideas representing them, and the words that express the ideas.
Albert Lewis's article (Annals of Science, 1977) analysing the influence of Friedrich Schleiermacher on Hermann Grassmann, stimulated many different studies on the founder of n-dimensional outer algebra.
Following a brief outline of the various, sometimes diverging, analyses of Grassmann's creative thinking, new research is presented which confirms Lewis's original contribution and widens it considerably. It will be shown that:
i. Grassmann, although a self-taught mathematician, was at the centre of a hitherto understated intellectual trend, which was defining for Germany. Initiated by Pestalozzi's concept of elementary mathematical education and culminating in the modern mathematics of the late 19th Century, it was reflected in the contributions of Grassmann, Riemann, Jacobi and Eisenstein.
ii. Hermann Grassmann, his father Justus, and his brother Robert were all demonstrably influenced by Schleiermacher's dialectic; however the two brothers responded to it in very different ways.
iii. Whilst the more philosophical parts of Hermann's 1844 Extension Theory are characterised by the influence of Schleiermacher and also by the mathematical knowledge of his father, the entire development of this work is the unfolding of a single idea based on the father's interpretation of combinatorial multiplication as a 'chemical conjunction', which was developed largely dialectically by Hermann.