AN ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE TONGUE DURING VOWEL PRODUCTION.

Surface electromyograms have been recorded from the tongue during the production of 12 American vowels contained in monosyllabic utterances of the form /pVp/. Electrodes were placed at locations ranging from the root of the tongue, over the mass and blade, to and under the tongue tip. It was found that each vowel shows characteristic patterns of electrical activity over the various locations during its production. Correlations are proposed between these vowel myogram patterns and (1) the musculature controlling tongue movement, particularly the styloglossus and hyoglossus muscles, (2) the acoustically significant place and degree of vocal‐tract constriction as shown in cineradiograms of the subjects speaking the same utterances, and (3) traditional phonetic classifications of the vowels. [This investigation was supported in part by PHS Research Grant DE 01774 from the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Wel...