抄録
Language is the most characteristic of complex human functions. In principle, the role of language is to produce a signal with an intended semantic interpretation for establishing human cornmunication. There are different ways of signal transmission in human communication which are inherently controlled by physiological nature and restriction ofl human body. In speech communication, speech sounds are produced by the movements of the articulatory organs under the control of motor commands from the central nervous system and the transformation of discrete codes is made into continuous acoustic signals, which are eventually decoded through the perception system of listeners. The physiological study of dynamic aspects of speech production is thus believed to be one of the most essential approaches for disclosing the nature of language behavior.
In the present paper, several topics are presented with special reference to the physiological nature of the articulatory behavior at the different levels of speech production. Among those, laryngeal adjustments in pitch control and voicing distinction are discussed based on the fiberscopic and electromyographic data. The same techniques are used for describing the velopharyngeal control in oral vs. nasal distinction. Further, preliminary analysis of tongue movements, also presented.
It should be realized that we are still at the stage of preliminary data gathering in the realm of research on language behavior. It is hoped that cooperative work among medical, engineering and linguistic fields will lead us to future progress in understanding of the nature of language.
