Midsagittal Displacement Patterns of Points on the Tongue Body During VCV Utterances

Abstract

The object of this study was to characterize the movements of the tongue body during consonant articulations by the displacement patterns of individual flesh points. Radiopaque markers were placed on the tongue body, and the displacement patterns of these markers during symmetric VCV utterances were recorded by means of cinefluorography. Two speakers recited utterances that were constructed with the vowels /i,u,a/ and the lingual consonants /g,j,d,z/. Additional data are presented for two other speakers to demonstrate the presence of tongue movement during symmetric VCV utterances in which the intervocalic consonant is the nonlingual fricative /v/. The discussion includes comments on consonant-vowel interaction, remarks on certain peculiarities of the tongue-point movements, and some speculations as to active and passive forces during lingual articulation. [Research supported in part by grants from NIH.]