Location of constriction in velar sounds in French

Abstract

This study examines the constriction location (CL) of the velar stop [k] in French. While previous studies have investigated how vocalic contexts influence the CL of velar stops [Liker & Gibbon (2008) Clin. Ling. & Phon. 22(2); Tabain (2000) JPhon 28(2)], few investigated high-level changes in CL. Building on our prior work [Islam & Gick (2023) JASA 154], which showed an unexpected palato-velar articulation of [k] followed by [a] compared with [w] followed by [a], we tested whether this [k]-palatalizing is universal or specific to [a]. Using a French MRI speech corpus [Isaieva et al., Scientific Data 8], we measured constriction in [k] before [i], [ɛ], [o], [u], and [a]. MRI video frames were manually traced to mark the upper surface of the tongue and the lower surface of the hard palate, resulting in two contours. Using Euclidean distance, the location of the constriction was identified as the narrowest point and distance, respectively, between the two contours. A Python script that measured Euclidean distance from traced MRI frames calculated these distances from the MRI frames. Results indicate a frontal shift in [k] across all contexts, indicating a general fronting articulation of [k] in French speech.