Co-articulatory variability and articulatory-acoustic correlations for consonants

This paper is an investigation of articulatory-acoustic correlations differing in degree of articulatory constraint. Data on F2 and on dorsopalatal contact (electropalatographic, EPG) were collected for the sequences /iCi/ and /aC./ with seven Catalan consonants differing in place and manner of articulation (velarised /l/, /n/, /n/, /s/, /f/, /l/, /p/). These consonants are characterised by different degrees of tongue dorsum constraint depending on their production requirements (dorsals > non-dorsals, fricatives > non-fricatives, etc.). The results showed an inverse relationship between vowel-dependent coarticulation and the degree of consonant-dependent articulatory constraint. F2 and dorsopalatal contact size were found to be positively correlated across consonants and speakers, and across consonants for each individual speaker. Correlation values were much lower for each consonant across speakers. These findings are discussed in the light of the acoustic theory of speech production and possible clinical applications are suggested.