MODELS FOR THE PRODUCTION AND ACOUSTICS OF STOP CONSONANTS

Stop consonants are produced by forming a closure in the vocal tract, building up pressure in the mouth behind this closure, and releasing t he closure. Models of the mechanical, aerodynamic, and acoustic events in the vicinity of the stop consonant are described, and examples of calculations of the airflow and of various components of the radiated sound are given. At the consonantal release, these components of the s ound include an initial transient, a burst of frication noise, and an interval in which there is a sound source at the glottis and transitio ns in the formants. The models predict the absolute levels of these co mponents for different places of articulation for the consonants.