The role of the tongue back on contrasting voicing properties of English coda consonants: Evidence from an ultrasound imaging technique

Abstract

This study explores how voicing properties of stop consonants at the coda of a syllable are reflected in the articulation of the tongue back in American English. The association between the laryngeal control of the voicing property of consonants and the positioning of the tongue back has been increasingly reported (e.g., Ahn, 2018; Coretta, 2020). A recent study (Coretta, 2020) reported that longer vowel duration indicating the following voiced stop consonant corresponds to greater tongue root advancement at the offset of the vowel in Italian and Polish. Since the vowel with a following voiced stop consonant has a longer duration than that with a voiceless stop consonant, the later offset of TB movement should be correlated with the offset of vocal folds vibration in American English as well. The preliminary result suggests that the later offset of TB advancement is positively correlated with the longer vowel duration of voiced consonants at the coda of a syllable; therefore, contrasting voicing property of coda consonants in English is phonological and phonetically evidenced in the articulation of the tongue back. Articulatory data from ultrasound images of the tongue from three native speakers of American English will be presented.