An Electromyographic Study of the Tongue During Vowel Production

Abstract

Surface electromyograms were recorded from 13 locations on the tongue of one subject during production of 17 different types of [p]-vowel-[p] monosyllables. Results were considered together with X-ray data on tongue action, and anatomical information on tongue musculature, in an attempt to describe the action of tongue muscles during vowel production. It proved possible in most cases to assign muscles, with some certainty, to the major features of myographic activity, and to indicate what function the muscle was serving. The results have particular relevance to theories of sequential speech production, and indirectly, theories of speech perception, as they provide a basis for description of how coarticulation of vowels with consonants involving the tongue takes place.