Articulatory, positional and coarticulatory characteristics for clear /l/ and dark /l/: evidence from two Catalan dialects (original) (raw)
Related papers
Darkness in [l] as a scalar phonetic property: implications for phonology and articulatory control
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 2004
Dorsopalatal contact and F2 data for speakers of dialectal groups with dark [I] (Majorcan Catalan. Eastern Catalan) and clear [1] (German, Catalan from the Valencia region) provide some support for the hypothesis that degree of velarization or pharyngealization in the alveolar lateral consonant docs not proceed categorically but gradually across dialects. Indeed. F2 frequency data for [1] in the context of [i] reveal that darkness does not distinguish the two dialectal groups but varies gradually from dialects with a very dark realization of [I] (Mallorqui) to those with a very clear realization (Valencia) through dialects exhibiting intermediate degrees of darkness {Eastern Catalan. German). A similar scenario applies to the [a] context. This finding questions the complex, two-gestural status of dark [1] and the notion that dark [1] should always be more coarticulation resistant than clear [1].
Phonetica, 1998
Electropalatographic and F2 frequency data in /VlV/ sequences reveal more prominent C-to-V effects for Catalan dark /l/ than for German clear /l/, more so in the /i/ context than in the /a/ context, which is in agreement with the existence of high lingual requirements on the formation of two constriction places for dark /l/. German clear /l/ exerts a similar amount of F2 displacement on both vowels which may be indicative of the tongue dorsum being directed towards a target position; this is also suggested by dorsopalatal contact and formant frequency data showing less voweldependent variability than clear /l/ in other languages though more so than Catalan dark /l/. Salient anticipatory requirements for the implementation of /l/ in the two languages block V1-dependent carryover effects to a large extent which results in more prominent vocalic anticipation than vocalic carryover. This directionality trend in vocalic coarticulation is more obvious for Catalan dark /l/ than for German clear /l/ (in agreement with the former consonantal variety requiring more anticipation than the latter) and opposes German /l/ to clear /l/ in other languages (i.e., the less constrained /l/ variety of Spanish may favor vocalic carryover over vocalic anticipation in VCV sequences).
Differences in Base of Articulation for Consonants among Catalan Dialects
Phonetica, 2010
Electropalatographic data for several front lingual consonants, i.e., the dental /t/, the alveolars /n, l, s, r/ and the alveolopalatals /tʃ, ʃ, ʎ, ɲ/, show differences in constriction anteriority among Catalan dialects varying in the progression Valencian > Eastern, with the Majorcan dialect occupying an intermediate position. These differences do not conform to speaker-dependent differences in palate morphology and, to the extent that they operate on a varied range of consonants, may be attributed to base of articulation. Deviations from this pattern are associated with manner of articulation and symmetry demands. A specific dialect-dependent relationship between tongue dorsum contact and constriction fronting is interpreted assuming the existence of less laminal, more apical dental and alveolar stops, and less dorsal, more laminal alveolopalatals, in Valencian than in the other two dialects. These data are interpreted in terms of the articulatory characteristics for different tongue front settings which have been proposed in the literature.
Journal of Phonetics, 2006
[h] (lateral) may exhibit two places of articulation, i.e., alveolopalatal and palatal proper, depending not only on vowel context but on position and speaker as well. In this Catalan dialect, [E] and [h] have phonological status while [c] is an allophone of /k/ and is articulated at a fronter location than front /k/ in languages such as English. Several consonant-dependent differences appear to be of universal validity, i.e., a trend for [E] and [h] to exhibit a more anterior closure location than [c] (perhaps due to manner requirements) or else for [c] and [E] to share a similar place of articulation (presumably for the sake of articulatory economy), and more stability for closures formed at the alveolopalatal zone than at the mediopalate. The three palatal consonants exhibit more overall contact, fronting and duration but also more coarticulation utterance initially than utterance finally (and even intervocalically) thus suggesting that they may blend with the adjacent vowel rather than resisting its influence in the former position while failing to undergo substantial articulatory reduction in the latter. r
An Electropalatographic Study of Alveolar and Palatal Consonants in Catalan and Italian
Language and Speech, 1993
Electropalatographic data for Catalan and Italian reported in this paper reveal the existence of two categories of palatal consonants, namely, alveolopalatals ([n], [λ]) and palatals proper ([j]). All these consonants are produced with a single place of articulation and thus are not good candidates for complex segments involving a tongue front articulator and a tongue dorsum articulator. A higher degree of coupling between the primary articulator and other tongue regions for alveolopalatals and palatals than for alveolar [n] accounts for a reduced sensitivity to coarticulatory effects for the former vs. the latter. Alveolarpalatal correlations reported in this study support the notion of relative independence between different tongue articulators for non-dorsal vs. dorsal consonants. Differences in articulation and coarticulation were found for Italian vs. Catalan. In comparison with their Catalan counterparts, Italian shows the following properties: Consonants are more anterior, [n...
An Electropalatographic Investigation of Segmental Complexity in Alveolopalatal Consonants
2007
Electropalatographic data on Catalan Ip] and [j] indicate the wnvenience to distinguish at least two articulatory classes of high dorsal consonants (excluding velars), 1.e." alveolopalatals and palatals proper Lingual wntact at the mediopostpalatal zone is less extensive and more variable Sor [JI] than for [j], which suggests that the tongue dorsum is actctlvated for the latter consonant but not for the former. It is claimed that the presence of a large extent of wntact behind the alveoloprepalatal zone and a fi]-like wnfiguration at closure offset is not indicative of the presence OS a dorsal gesture for Ip] but results from mechamcal effects. This viem suggests that alveolopalatals are not complex segments (produced with a tongut blade gesture and a tongue dorsum gesture) but s~mple segments (produced with the blade and the predorsum at the alveolo-prepalatal zone) Phonetlc and phonological processes lnvolving the consonants ~nto wnsideration can be explained assuming their non-wmplex status.
Linguopalatal coarticulation and alveolar-palatal correlations for velarized and non-velarized /l/
Journal of Phonetics, 1996
Acoustic and electropalatographic data are presented involving palatal and alveolar contact coarticulation and alveolar-palatal contact correlations for Catalan velarized / l / (5 speakers) and German non-velarized / l / (4 speakers) in dif ferent vowel environments . Coarticulatory ef fects and significant alveolar-palatal correlations for German exceed those for Catalan which is consistent with the tongue body being more constrained for the velarized than the non-velarized realization . In comparison to non-velarized / l / , active predorsum lowering for velarized / l / largely prevents dorsopalatal coarticulation with / i / and tongue front -tongue dorsum coupling ef fects from occurring . Vowel-dependent variations in tongue dorsum position result in closure fronting dif ferences for speakers of both languages which suggests that they use coordination mechanisms between the tongue tip and the tongue dorsum ; however , not all speakers change closure location across vowel contexts .
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009
Lingual movement data for Catalan vowel-consonant-vowel sequences reveal differences in contextual coarticulatory variability in tongue position at the middle of the consonant for /p / Ͼ / n / Ͼ dark /l / Ͼ / s / Ͼ / b / Ͼ / F/ and at vowel midpoint for /u / Ͼ / a / Ͼ / i/. The velar stop /k/ exhibits a high degree of contextual variability in the horizontal dimension but not in the vertical dimension. These differences in coarticulatory sensitivity are attributed to differences in articulatory constraint, e.g., palatality and frication cause a higher degree of resistance in the consonant than laterality. A higher degree of contextual variability for dark /l/ than expected appears to be associated with speaker-dependent differences in darkness degree. Contextual variability is greater at regions not involved in closure or constriction formation, e.g., at the tongue dorsum than at the tongue front for alveolars. Coarticulatory resistance and coarticulatory aggressiveness are positively correlated: Phonetic segments, which are especially resistant to coarticulatory effects from the adjacent segments, exert maximal coarticulation on them. Consequently, highly constrained segments such as alveolopalatal consonants turn out to affect tongue position for less constrained segments such as back vowels rather than vice versa.
An Articulatory and Acoustic Study of the European Portuguese /l/
2011
In this paper, MRI images and acoustic data for several speakers of European Portuguese (EP) were utilized in order to investigate articulatory and acoustic characteristics of /l/. Syllabic position differences and effects of the surrounding vowels were further evaluated. In general, the EP /l/ showed no substantial articulatory or acoustic differences at word edges, with low F2 frequencies and small pharyngeal/velar areas due to tongueroot retraction and/or tongue dorsum raising. The amount of vocalic effect on both the articulatory and acoustic data was speaker-dependent.
An electropalatographic and acoustic study of affricates and fricatives in two Catalan dialects
Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 2007
The present study is an electropalatographic and acoustic investigation of the fricatives /s, S/ and the affricates /ts, dz, tS, dZ/ based on data from five speakers of Majorcan Catalan and five speakers of Valencian Catalan. Results show that the articulatory characteristics of fricatives and affricates agree in several respects: the sounds traditionally labeled /S/ and /tS, dZ/ are alveolopalatal, and are articulated at a less anterior location, are less constricted and show more dorsopalatal contact than the alveolars /s/ and /ts, dz/; the two place categories are closer to each other in Valencian than in Majorcan. Compared to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates are more anterior and more constricted, and show less dorsopalatal contact. Data also show that closure location for /tS, dZ/ occurs at the alveolar zone, and that articulatory differences among affricates are better specified at frication than at closure. Strict homorganicity between the stop and frication components of affricates appears to hold provided that constriction location at frication is compared with place of articulation at closure offset. In comparison to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates were shorter, and exhibited a longer closure and a shorter frication period, in Majorcan; in Valencian, on the other hand, closures were shortest for /dZ/, and frication was systematically longer for voiceless vs. voiced affricates. These duration data appear to conform to a universal trend in Valencian but not in Majorcan where voiced affricates are lengthened intentionally. In both Catalan dialects, vowel duration varies inversely with the duration of the affricate and of its closure and frication components. The implications of these articulatory and duration characteristics for the interpretation of sound changes affecting affricates, i.e. place merging, lenition and devoicing, are discussed.