Comparing French and English coronal consonant articulation

Abstract

The difference between French and English speakers' production of the coronal consonants /t, d, n, l, s, z/ has traditionally been thought to involve place of articulation (dentalvs. alveolar) and/or point of constriction on the tongue (laminalvs. apical). In addition, these six consonants are usually placed in the same column of the consonant chart and assumed to have the same place of articulation within a given language. A palatographic and linguagraphic investigation of 21 French speakers and 20 American English speakers shows that there is more individual variation in both languages than had previously been supposed. This is true both between speakers and between consonants. The study shows that speakers within one language may not all produce the coronal consonants at the same place of articulation on the palate or with the same point of constriction on the tongue. It is also clear that the place of articulation and apicality of the coronal lateral, and to a lesser extent the coronal fricatives, may not pattern with that of the stop consonants. Analysis of acoustic recordings made simultaneously with the palatograms and linguagrams is forthcoming.