Commonality in the dorsal articulations of English vowels and liquids

Abstract

Phonological studies have predicted that the dorsal articulations of English /r/ and /l/ correspond with those of schwa and open o, respectively [Gick, Phonology (in press)]. Specifically, /r/ and schwa are hypothesized to share pharyngeal configuration, while /l/ and open o share upper pharyngeal/uvular configuration. To test this prediction, midsagittal MRI images of the vocal tract of a male speaker of American English were collected and midsagittal distance (of airspace above the tongue surface) measured at 44 3-mm intervals along the vocal tract length. Regions of the vocal tract were defined as pharyngeal, uvular and oral, as in Whalen et al. [JSLHR (in press)], with the pharyngeal region divided into upper and lower halves. Midsagittal distances were collected for eleven sustained vowels plus /r/ and /l/. Distances for average vowels were subtracted point by point from /r/ and /l/ and a single rms calculated within each region of the vocal tract. As predicted, in the upper pharyngeal and upper pharyngeal/uvular regions, /l/ showed the greatest correspondence with open o, while /r/ was most similar to schwa throughout the pharynx. These results support the phonological interpretation of the dorsal gestures of English liquids as vocalic. [Work supported by NIH grant DC-02717.]

An X-Ray Investigation of Pharyngeal Constriction in American English Schwa

“…The McMahon et al [1994] hypothesis proposes that, if the anterior raising gesture of /r/ were removed, the remaining tongue configuration would closely resemble the articulation of schwa. Gick [1999] takes this proposal a step further, arguing that all final schwas in lexical words (in r-intruding dialects only) are simply the final allophones of /r/ [see Gick et al, 2000, for MRI evidence on this point]. Both the original hypothesis proposed by McMahon et al [1994] and its extension proposed by Gick [1999] support the basic prediction that an /r/-like pharyngeal constriction should be found in schwa, at least in r-intruding dialects.…”

The Articulatory Phonetics of /r/ for Residual Speech Errors

“…The secondary or tertiary locations are necessary for production of an acceptable acoustic version of the phoneme, but their degree of constriction is either less or more variable across different prosodic or phonetic contexts. 16,17 One example is the vowel /u/. Although /u/ is typically listed as a back vowel, and the raising of the tongue dorsum in the vicinity of the velopalate is considered the primary constriction, a secondary constriction in the form of lip-rounding is generally present as well.…”

The Adaptation of English Word-Medial Coda [r] in Mandarin, Korean and Japanese Loanword Phonology

“…The production of [Ѣ] involves two articulatory gestures (Delattre and Freeman, 1968;Hagiwara, 1995;Gick, 1999;Gick et al, 2000Gick et al, , 2002Gick and Campbell, 2003), which, following Gick (1999), are labeled the tongue blade/body raising gesture and the pharyngeal narrowing gesture here. Gick and Campbell (2003) McMahon (1994McMahon ( , 2000.…”