Computer‐controlled x‐ray study of Japanese consonants and vowels—a preliminary report

Abstract

A set of data of Japanese CV syllables has been obtained for two native speakers of the Tokyo dialect by use of the computer‐controlled x‐ray microbeam system [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 57, 1516–1520 (1975)]. The material included /pV tV kV sV bV dV gV zV/, where V is /i, e, a, o or u/, repeated in immediate succession. For one subject, five pellets were placed on the tongue surface in the midsagittal plane, with another pellet on a lower tooth. The six pellets were tracked at a rate of 120 sample sets per second. The data are being analyzed, and tentative conclusions include: (1) the blade of the tongue (in reference to flesh points) is more advanced for [e] than for [i], (2) k‐g and t‐d oppositions reveal different tongue gestures, (3) for dental consonants, the tongue body makes a characteristic forward movement, and these movements are slower for fricatives than for stops. A slow motion picture of the movements of the pellets will be demonstrated.