Coarticulation and consonant cluster production in Iwaidja.

Abstract

Articulatory analyzes of consonant cluster production have provided a rich source of information for modeling the production of speech over the years. It has been suggested that Australian indigenous languages show remarkable stability in heterorganic C1C2 sequences where C1 is coronal and C2 is noncoronal as in /nk/ sequences. In other words they show little or no anticipatory place of articulation assimilation. In this paper, the focus is on consonant cluster production in Iwaidja, an endangered Australian indigenous language spoken in the Northern Territory, Australia. Like most Australian languages, Iwaidja has a rich set of oral stop, lateral, and nasal place of articulation contrasts. Results of an acoustic phonetic and electropalatographic study show that assimilation is resisted in various ways in order to maintain place contrasts in certain sequences. Strategies include gestural delay and associated lengthening of initial consonants in C1C2 sequences. Nevertheless there is also clear evidence of a range of other effects including blending in situations of gestural conflict. Implications for models of coarticulatory processes are presented in the light of prevailing speech production models and compared to earlier findings based on analyzes of two other Australian languages: Warlpiri and Arrernte.