The role of the jaw in consonant articulation.

Abstract

Various linguistic roles have been hypothesized for the jaw. In Browman and Goldstein’s ArticulatoryPhonology, it is identified as the common articulator among gestures involving the lower lip, tongue tip, and tongue body, and Goldstein has suggested that this may underly the differentiation in Arabic phonology between oral consonants (labials, dentals, velars) and gutturals (uvulars, pharyngeals, glottals). Keating (1983) proposed that consonants are specified for relatively fixed jaw heights (sibilants higher than stops higher than glides), providing the phonetic basis for sonority sequencing constraints. Macchi (1985) proposed that jaw height during consonants reflects both a passive coarticulation with neighboring vowels, and an active suprasegmental specification (lower in stressed syllables). This paper re-examines these hypotheses using a corpus contrasting different places of articulation. The hypotheses are supported more or less well, depending on place. For example, Macchi’s hypothesis was borne out for labials, but the jaw was quite low during velar stops in unstressed syllables, usually lower than in the preceding vowel. These results suggest that no linguistic role can be stated straightforwardly for all consonants. Rather, the jaw’s contribution varies in proportion to the distance of the oral articulator from the condyle. [Work supported by the NSF.]