Interspeaker Variation in the Articulation of Nasal Vowels

The articulation of the four French nasal vowels and their oral counterparts has been investigated for four speakers, using magnetic resonance images of the three-dimensional oral and nasal tracts and the cross-sectional velar opening areas. The analysis suggests that the subjects’ anatomy in the oral and nasal tracts influences the articulation, with intersubject differences in both the vocal tract shape and the velar opening, in order to achieve the appropriate relation between the oral and nasal resonators.