Tonal Coarticulation in Thai after Unilateral Brain Damage

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 505 - 535
• Main Authors: Gandour, Jack, Potisuk, Siripong, Ponglorpisit, Suvit, Dechongkit, Sumalee, Khunadorn, Fuangfa, Boongird, Prasert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.03.1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aphasia - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiopathology; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Language and communication disorders; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Speech Disorders - diagnosis; Speech Disorders - physiopathology; Speech Production Measurement; Verbal Behavior; Human; Nervous system diseases; Verbal fluidity; Language disorder; Cerebral disorder; Acoustical analysis; Articulation; Central nervous system disease; Aphasia; Unilateral; Lesion; Neurological disorder; Laterality; Comparative study; Fundamental frequency
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1006/brln.1996.0027

The magnitude and temporal extent of anticipatory and perseverative tonal coarticulation was investigated in Thai-speaking normal and brain-damaged adults. A total of 47 speakers (10 young normal, 10 old normal, 13 nonaphasic right-brain-damaged patients, 14 left-brain-damaged aphasic patients, 9 fluent, 5 nonfluent) produced all 25 possible sequences of two tones from the five lexical tones of Thai embedded in a carrier sentence.F0contours were analyzed in terms of height and slope at 10% intervals throughout the duration of the two syllables. Acoustic analysis revealed that anticipatory and perseverative tonal coarticulation of tones was markedly reduced in left fluent aphasics, totally absent in left nonfluent aphasics, but reasonably intact in right hemisphere patients. Findings are interpreted to highlight the nature of speech disturbances in nonfluent and fluent aphasia, hemispheric specialization for tone, and tonal coarticulation in Thai.