Timing of German onset and word boundary clusters (original) (raw)

2014, Laboratory Phonology

Previous studies suggest that there are special timing relations in syllable onsets. The consonants are assumed to be timed on the one hand with the vocalic nucleus and on the other hand with each other. These competing bonding relations result in the C-center effect. However, the C-center e↵ect has not consistently been found in languages with complex onsets. Moreover, it has occasionally been found in languages disallowing complex onsets. The present study investigates onset timing in German while discussing alternative explanations (not related to bonding) for the timing patterns observed. Six German speakers were recorded via Electromagnetic Articulography. The corpus contained items with four clusters (/sk/, /kv/, /gl/ and /pl/). The clusters occur in word-initial position, word medial position and across a word boundary preceding di↵erent vowels. The results suggest that segmental properties (i.e. oral-laryngeal coordination, coarticulatory resistance) rather than bonding relations account for the observed patterns.