A study of jaw coarticulatory resistance and aggressiveness for Catalan consonants and vowels

J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Jul;132(1):412-20. doi: 10.1121/1.4726048.

Abstract

The goal of this study is to investigate coarticulatory resistance and aggressiveness for the jaw in Catalan consonants and vowels and, more specifically, for the alveolopalatal nasal //[symbol see text]/ and for dark /l/ for which there is little or no data on jaw position and coarticulation. Jaw movement data for symmetrical vowel-consonant-vowel sequences with the consonants /p, n, l, s, ∫, [ symbol see text], k/ and the vowels /i, a, u/ were recorded by three Catalan speakers with a midsagittal magnetometer. Data reveal that jaw height is greater for /s, ∫/ than for /p, [see text]/, which is greater than for /n, l, k/ during the consonant, and for /i, u/ than for /a/ during the vowel. Differences in coarticulatory variability among consonants and vowels are inversely related to differences in jaw height, i.e., fricatives and high vowels are most resistant, and /n, l, k/ and the low vowel are least resistant. Moreover, coarticulation resistant phonetic segments exert more prominent effects and, thus, are more aggressive than segments specified for a lower degree of coarticulatory resistance. Data are discussed in the light of the degree of articulatory constraint model of coarticulation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Humans
  • Jaw / physiology*
  • Language*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Movement / physiology
  • Phonetics
  • Spain
  • Speech / physiology*
  • Speech Acoustics
  • Tongue / physiology