Interacting effects of phrasal and syllable position on consonant production

Abstract

The complexities of how prosodic structure, both at the phrasal and syllable levels, shapes speech production have begun to be illuminated through studies of articulatory behavior. Here, we pursue the goal of understanding prosodic signatures on articulation by examining the effects of phrasal and syllable position on the constriction formation and release of consonants. Articulatory kinematic data were collected for five subjects using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) to record target consonants (labial, labiodental, and tongue tip), located in (1) either syllable final or initial position and (2) either at a phrase edge or phrase-medially: ♯C, ♯♯C, C♯, C♯♯. The duration, displacement, and time-to-peak velocity of constriction formation and release were determined for the target consonants based on kinematic landmarks in the articulator velocity profiles (zero crossings and extrema). ANOVA determines that syllable and phrasal position consistently affect the movement duration; however, effects on displacement were more variable. For the majority of subjects, the boundary-adjacent portion of the movement (release for a preboundary coda and constriction formation for a postboundary onset) is not differentially affected in terms of phrasal lengthening; both lengthen equivalently. However, two subjects show an interaction such that the codas are lengthened more than the onsets. [Work supported by NIH.]