English Liquid Consonants Ultrasound Tongue Imaging Video Database, 2016-2019

The English Liquids video corpus is a subset of the ultrasound speech corpus generated from the Changes in Shape, Space and Time, project, and two other ultrasound corpora (Dynamic Dialects, and the PhD research of Dr Hannah King, Université Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle, Institut du monde anglophone). All three corpora were recorded at the CASL ultrasound recording studio, Speech and Hearing Sciences Division, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Participants were aged 18+ and were recruited via local advertisements. Recordings were made using a Sonix RP ultrasound machine (220fps) with a stabilising headset and headset mounted lip cameras (30fps). Composite (tongue and lip video combined), annotated (with demographic data and stimuli) and concatenated videos were created of single-word utterances containing liquid consonants, played at normal, then reduced speed. These videos show synchronised tongue and lip movement (in most cases profile and front-facing lip views) and demographic information about each speaker is included as subtitles, as is the stimulus. The purpose of the English Liquids corpus is to illustrate, for e.g. speech therapists, their clients, English language teachers and learners, broad place and manner categories of liquid consonant found in English, as well as rarer ones that may result from ongoing sound change. The three UTI corpora mentioned above were surveyed by phonetician Dr. Eleanor Lawson, and liquid consonant videos were chosen based on clarity of UTI video and audio, and also with a view to evidence the same variant used in as many accents as possible, and in all syllable positions. Videos showing the same variant in the same syllabic context, e.g. syllable onset, or coda, or intervocalic position, were composited, annotated and concatenated into a single video to allow comparison of articulatory strategies across speakers. Categories of /l/ evidenced are: clear/palatalised; dark/velarised; vocalised; /l/ with reduced tongue-tip gesture and interdental /l/, using words: lull, real, level; little; lull; feel; girl; muddle. A total of 19 speakers were sampled from: Canada (Ontario); England (Manchester; Newcastle; Sheffield; Southampton; N. Yorkshire); Rep. Ireland (Dublin); N. Ireland (Co. Antrim); Scotland (Fife; S. Lanarkshire; Perthshire. W. Lothian); U.S.A. (Georgia; Maryland; Michigan; N. Carolina; Rhode Island; San Jose), and West Indies (Trinidad). Categories of /r/ evidenced are: labialised /r/; labiodental /r/; bunched /r/; retroflex /r/, tip-up /r/; tapped /r/; trilled /r/ and delayed/devoiced /r/, using the words: agreed; air; arrow; brewed; cure; err; far; fur; girl; greed; hear; hearing; hear it; more; near; nurse; poor; prize; rack; real; read; red; ring; risks; root; run; three; and worm. A total of 36 speakers were sampled from: Canada, (British Columbia; Ontario); England (Chester; Cumbria; Darlington; Isle of Man; Kent; Manchester; Newcastle; Oxford; Plymouth; Sheffield; Southampton; N. Yorkshire); Rep. Ireland (Co. Monaghan; Co. Tipperary; Dublin); N. Ireland (Co. Antrim); N.Z. (Christchurch, West Coast South Island); Scotland (Aberdeenshire; Black Isle; Fife; Edinburgh; S. Lanarkshire; W. Lothian; Perthshire; Renfrewshire;); U.S.A. (Georgia; Los Angeles; Maryland; Michigan; N. Carolina; Oregon; Rhode Island; San Jose), and West Indies (Trinidad).