Electromyographic-Cinéfluorographic Investigation of Velar Function during Speech Production

Cinéfluorographic films of velar movement were made simultaneously with surface electromyographic recordings of velar muscle contraction during the production of selected syllables and sustained vowel and nasal phonemes. The data were analyzed to determine (1) the extent of variation in velar position during the production of various phonemes in relation to alterations in duration and phonetic context; (2) the extent of variation in velar electromyographic activity during the same speech utterances; and (3) the extent to which velar elevation and electromyographic activity covary during the production of sustained vowel and nasal phonemes and during alterations in duration and phonetic context. These data are discussed in relation to the hypothesis, advanced by certain investigators, that the velum acts in an all-or-none (ON-OFF) fashion.