Stress and tongue blade movement in alveolar VC gestures

Abstract

Displacement, peak velocity, and movement time of the tongue blade in VC transitions were studied using data obtained by a computer‐controlled x‐ray microbeam system [cf. Laferriere and Fujimura (1981)]. Consonants were /t/ and /d/; vowels were either stressed, or unstressed/reduced. Displacement was the distance moved by the blade pellet from a zero‐velocity state for the vowel to the next zero‐velocity state for the consonant. A positive relationship was found between displacement and velocity [cf. Kuehn and Moll (1976)]. However, when C was a stop, for a given displacement, blade movement was faster from an unstressed vowel than from a stressed vowel. When C was a tap, for a given displacement, blade movement was faster when the following vowel was unstressed ([∇́ɾə]) than when it was stressed ([∇́ɾ∇́]). For both stops and taps, movement time was shorter in the unstressed cases. These results indicate that (1) velocity and movement time of the tongue blade are conditioned by degree of stress, and (2) the broader stress environment (post‐consonantal vowel) may also affect articulatory movement of the pre‐consonantal transition.