Ultrasonographic analysis of lateral liquids and coronal fricatives: judgment of experienced and non-experienced judges

Purpose:  to verify if the accuracy in the judgment of the ultrasound (US) images varies according to the experience of the judges and the sound class - alveolar liquids and coronal fricatives.

Methods:  ultrasound images related to the production of liquids and fricatives in the intervocalic context of the vowel /a/, produced by 20 typical adults, were judged by 15 experienced judges and 15 non-experienced judges. A previous analysis of the images was performed to establish the typical ultrasound pattern of the liquids and fricatives. The accuracy (% of correctness and errors) of the judgments performed by the judges was considered in the analysis. Factorial ANOVA statistical test was used, considering as factors the sound class and the experience of the judges.

Results:  the Factorial ANOVA showed a significant effect for the accuracy of the judgment only for the sound class, with no significance for the judges' experience or for the interaction between the experience of judges and the sound class. The liquids had a lower accuracy in the judgment, as compared to the fricatives, confirming their articulatory complexity, since they involve the production of two simultaneous gestures.

Conclusion:  the accuracy in the judgment of the US images did not vary according to the experience of judges, but it was dependent on the sound class. It should be noted, however, that all judges presented previous knowledge about the processes of speech production which may have favored image interpretation.

Keywords:
Speech; Phonetic; Ultrasonography