Velar coarticulation in nasal and oral vowel environments: A comparison of English and Hindi

Abstract

Velar elevation in English is greater for close than for open vowels and is also affected by adjacent consonants. Vowel quality also affects velar position during consonants, the velum being lower in an open‐ than in a close‐vowel environment. In the present study, data on the effects of vowel quality and consonantal environment on velar elevation were collected for Hindi, a language in which the oral‐nasal contrast is phonologically relevant for both vowels and consonants, and for English, in which the oral‐nasal contrast for vowels is generally considered irrelevant. Simultaneous high‐speed films of velar position and electromyographic signals from the levator palatini muscle were collected for a series of vowels varying from close to open in four consonantal environments. The results will be discussed in relation to a velar function model requiring at least four positional states. [Bell‐Berti, in Speech Communication Papers, edited by J. J. Wolf and D. H. Klatt (New York, 1979), pages 79–82.] [Work supported by NINCDS.]