Acoustic correlates of consonant gesture timing in English

Abstract

There is extensive research on the organization of syllable-structure as indexed by the relative timing of the articulators (Browman and Goldstein, 1988; Byrd, 1995; Shaw et al., 2011 inter alia). The research suggests consonants in complex onsets (in words such as scream, stream…) are aligned to a single position called the C-center, the mean of the midpoints of the onset consonants. However, such research typically uses very expensive articulatory equipment (X-ray Microbeam, Electromagnetic Articulography…). This restricts the research to a few laboratories across the world with access to such technology. Here, we explore the possibility of using acoustic measurements, which are cheaper and more accessible, for such research. We conducted an experiment on 6 native speakers of English, who produced 12 repetitions of 24 English words (12 test, 12 filler) that varied in the number of onset consonants (C1, C1C2, C1C2C3) in three different vowel contexts. Paralleling previous studies, the results show that onset consonants align with the C-center even in acoustic measurements. The results suggest acoustic data has at least some meaningful information about gestural organization. Therefore, they prompt the (nuanced) use of acoustic techniques to study such effects.