# Articulatory strategy as a source of variation in acoustic vowel dynamics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23416 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.23416/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 65 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 May 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Markerless tracking of user-defined features with deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.03142/) (2018)
- [Towards a dynamical model of English vowels. Evidence from diphthongisation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00275/) (2024)
- [Articulatory strategy in vowel production as a basis for speaker discrimination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.20995/) (2025)
- [Dynamical model parameters from ultrasound tongue kinematics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.18629/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Acoustic vowel dynamics have some speaker-identifying characteristics, which have been ascribed to individual properties of articulatory strategies: formant transitions have a particular shape because speakers move their articulators, using specific and practised movements. However, there is little existing evidence that different articulatory strategies systematically affect formant dynamics. The present study corroborates the link between the two. Ultrasound tongue imaging data from 36 speakers of Northern-Anglo English are used to identify distinct articulatory strategies for the production of palatal vowel /i/. Tongue shape in /i/ is found to be a significant predictor of formant dynamics in diphthongs with a palatal offglide. The observed relationships can be explained by the characteristics of articulatory movement conditioned by vocal tract shape. Greater articulatory displacement of tongue root and/or dorsum produces greater distortion from the mean tongue shape in palatal vowels, and it also requires higher articulatory velocities, resulting in relatively earlier and steeper formant transitions. The results contribute to the conceptual understanding of individuality in speech, by illuminating the regularising and individual aspects of articulatory compensation.