LINGUIST List 5.261

Sun 06 Mar 1994

Sum: Breath Intake and Utterance Duration

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1. "charles, breath summary

About eight weeks ago I posted a query concerning the relation between
breath intake and utterance duration, as well as breath training by
professional speakers. No one was able to send a cite answering the
queries, (BTW - to all the people who suggest Jrn. of Speech and Hearing
Res.: nothing there. Surprising but true)
but a surprising number of people requested that I post
any results. Here you are:

Hixon, T.J. et al. (1987) "Respiratory kinematics in classical
(Shakespearean) actors", in T.J. Hixon (ed.), _Respiratory Function
in Speech and Song_. San Diego: College Hill Press, pp. 375-400.

This one talks about breath control in professional speakers.

Atkinson, J.E. (1973). _Aspects of intonation in speech: Implications
from an experimental study of fundamental frequency_. PhD. Thesis,
University of Connecticut, Storrs.

This actually does claim a relation between breath intake and utterance
duration, but my colleague who actually found the cite (I don't have
access to dissertations, out here in the wilderness) says that the
data are skimpy.

On reflection, breath-intake duration isn't the optimal marker for
measuring amount of air taken in. The ideal would be to put subjects
into Phil Lieberman's plethysmograph and measure air intake volume,
but he hasn't published anything relating intake volume and utterance
duration that I can find.

Thanks for all the responses. I was surprised to see the interest my
query generated. And a tip of the hat to Douglas Whalen of Haskins
Labs, who did yeoman service in hunting down hard-to-find stuff.

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