Control of oral closure in stop consonants with different closure durations

Abstract

This study examined lip and tongue kinematics in the production of stop consonants that differ in the duration of the oral closure. The linguistic material consisted of Swedish words that contained either a short vowel followed by a long stop, or a long vowel followed by a short stop. Articulatory movements were recorded using a magnetometer system. The average closure duration for the long stops was 100–150 ms, about twice the closure duration for the short stops. Preliminary results for one subject suggest that the lip closure for the long stop was produced with an upward movement trajectory of the lower lip that reached a higher position during the closure than the trajectory for the stop with a short oral closure. As a result, there was more mechanical interaction between the upper and lower lips, with the lower lip pushing the upper lip upward. For stops articulated with the tongue, the tongue moved along a longer path during the stop closure for the long than for the short stops. The average velocity of the tongue movement during the stop closure was lower for the long than for the short stops. [Work supported by NIH.]