Initial strengthening and coarticulatory resistance

Abstract

In previous work, initial strengthening of lingual articulations has been demonstrated in four languages. One possible interpretation of initial strengthening is that it results from increased coarticulatory resistance: consonants in stronger positions resist the weakening that coarticulation would produce. To test this interpretation, a new study examined consonants in CVCs in which the vowel was varied. If initial strengthening is coarticulatory resistance, then there should be less effect of the vowel on the initial consonant than on the final consonant. Test consonants /t d n l/ and vowels /E a u/ were combined with the nontest consonant /b/ in 24 syllables like /tab/ and /bul/; five subjects produced nine repetitions of each in a frame sentence. Maximum linguopalatal contact, measured by electropalatography, was the measure of consonant strengthening and coarticulation. The result was the opposite from the prediction. Initial consonants showed more vowel-dependent variation than did final consonants (in accord with the traditional coarticulation literature). Yet the initial consonants did show more overall contact than final consonants. Thus initial strengthening cannot be attributed to coarticulatory resistance. Additional experiments, including one which looks at initial strengthening in phrase-initial positions, will be reported. [Work supported by NSF.]