"Dynamic MRI for similar articulation in Arabic"

"Recent  advances  in  dynamic  Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have made it possible to study the  anatomy  and  dynamic  motion  of  the  vocal  tract  during speech  production in  detail. Understanding  human  speech production greatly benefits language acquisition. The Arabic language  has  novel  sounds  that  are  not  found  in  other languages.  Twelve  Arabic  letters have  similar  articulation and are very challenging to learn for native and  non-native speakers.  This  study  utilized  dynamic  MRI  scanning  to investigate  these  twelve  Arabic  letters'  anatomy  and dynamic  motion.  It  is  the  first  to  discuss  the  details  of acquiring dynamic MRI for recording Arabic phonetics. We developed  a  dynamic  MRI  protocol  for  this  study,  which effectively captured the  motion of  targeted sounds,  despite being  produced  from  different  articulation  points.  The results  showed  that  the  investigated  letters  might  sound similar. Yet, there is a vast  difference between them, which was detected clearly by comparing the outline contouring of the  MRI images.  The  results can  be a  reliable  anatomical reference to teach the difference between the target sounds. Moreover,  it  helps  us  understand  Arabic  phonetics' intricacies  and  contributes  to  designing  more  practical, realistic, and  engaging language  learning tools  for students of all ages."

动态磁共振成像（Magnetic Resonance Imaging，以下简称MRI）领域的近期进展，已使得我们能够细致研究言语产生过程中声道的解剖结构与动态运动。深入理解人类言语产生机制，对语言习得具有重要价值。阿拉伯语拥有诸多其他语言所不具备的独特音素，其中12个阿拉伯语字母的发音方式与部位极为相似，无论母语使用者还是非母语学习者均难以掌握。本研究借助动态磁共振成像扫描技术，对这12个阿拉伯语字母的解剖结构与动态运动展开了探究，亦是首个系统探讨用于录制阿拉伯语音素的动态磁共振成像数据采集细节的工作。本研究自主搭建了适配的动态磁共振成像扫描协议，即便目标音素的发音位置存在差异，该协议仍可有效捕捉其运动过程。研究结果显示，尽管所探究的字母发音听觉上近似，但通过对比磁共振成像图像的轮廓形态，可清晰发现二者间存在显著差异。本研究结果可作为可靠的解剖学参考依据，用于讲解目标音素间的发音差异。此外，该研究有助于我们深入理解阿拉伯语音系的复杂特性，同时可为面向全年龄段学习者设计更具实用性、真实性与趣味性的语言学习工具提供支撑。