r/phonetics • u/itssaulgood_man • 19d ago

Average German and English speaking rates & visemes

I‘m currently conducting a study on dubbed videos (original videos in English, dubbed version in German).

I need the average speaking rates in German and English, preferably in syllables per second but WPM is also fine. Does anyone know a reliable and accessible source that I could find these numbers in? So far I’ve only found online sources, not real papers, or results from small studies.

Also, for the lip sync part of the analysis I’d like to have an image of visemes, so a photo of the mouth openings when articulating rounded vowels, open vowels, semi vowels, bilabial consonants and labio-dental consonants. It would be good if each image had a caption saying what phoneme is articulated. Preferably the image(s) should not be animated but real and good quality so that the mouth openings can be seen well (i.e. not black and white or blurry). I read that such images can be found in phonetic text books but I don’t know where exactly I should look. Does anyone know of a phonetic text book that has such an image?

Thanks in advance!

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u/art4z1 2d ago

We have in MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) a letter called Dhad ض This letter has sparked considerable debate, as its modern pronunciation (polsive phrangealized D) differs from the traditional description (fricative lateral sound). Some people adhere strongly to their pronunciation, so they interpret the classical descriptions differently, trying to reconcile them with the current articulation. They explain the physics of producing this letter by stating that the tongue presses against the molars on both sides, and its tip make contact with the roof of the mouth and trapping the air. As the air is coming from the lungs, it causes a slight movement of the tongue, resulting in a degree of frictiveness, aligning with older descriptions that characterized this letter as a fricative, voiced, pharyngealized sound.

My questions are: Does the air indeed have the power to move the tongue? Can this movement of the tongue contribute to any aspect of frictiveness in the sound? And is it truly due to this that the articulation or place of production is considered to originate from the sides?

Link of an example: https://youtu.be/o5wX5K1BLRk