The role of gesture delay in coda /r/ weakening: An articulatory, auditory and acoustic study

Abstract

The cross-linguistic tendency of coda consonants to weaken, vocalize, or be deleted is shown to have a phonetic basis, resulting from gesture reduction, or variation in gesture timing. This study investigates the effects of the timing of the anterior tongue gesture for coda /r/ on acoustics and perceived strength of rhoticity, making use of two sociolects of Central Scotland (working- and middle-class) where coda /r/ is weakening and strengthening, respectively. Previous articulatory analysis revealed a strong tendency for these sociolects to use different coda /r/ tongue configurations—working- and middle-class speakers tend to use tip/front raised and bunched variants, respectively; however, this finding does not explain working-class /r/ weakening. A correlational analysis in the current study showed a robust relationship between anterior lingual gesture timing, F3, and percept of rhoticity. A linear mixed effects regression analysis showed that both speaker social class and linguistic factors (word structure and the checked/unchecked status of the prerhotic vowel) had significant effects on tongue gesture timing and formant values. This study provides further evidence that gesture delay can be a phonetic mechanism for coda rhotic weakening and apparent loss, but social class emerges as the dominant factor driving lingual gesture timing variation.

Voice quality and coda /r/ in Glasgow English in the early 20th century

“…Our results reveal the expected range of variation and suggest a change already underway in female speakers. However, what we observe for these speakers appears to be merely the initial stage of /r/-loss, and our results contrast sharply with the picture from the end of the 20th century, where auditory, acoustic, and articulatory studies all point to substantial /r/-weakening (derhoticisation), including delay and/or complete absence of the tongue-tip gesture, in Glaswegian (Stuart-Smith 2003;Lawson et al 2014Lawson et al , 2018.…”

“…Stuart-Smith (2007) found raised F3 for auditorily derhoticising /r/ in younger working-class male Glaswegian speakers. The articulatory-auditory-acoustic link between delayed anterior tongue gesture, weak /r/, and raised F3, has now been established by an experimental study of a socially-stratified sample of Glaswegian adolescents (Lawson et al 2018). Working-class speakers are at one end of this continuum, middle-class speakers at the other, with an early gesture, auditorily strong /r/, and the familiar lowering of F3.…”

“…The same tokens were also subjected to auditory analysis. Following the coding protocol in Lawson et al (2018), the second author provided narrow transcriptions for each token using auditory criteria only (without consulting spectrograms). The coding reflects a continuum of auditory strength using articulatory labels appropriate for this dialect (which therefore exclude rhotacised vowels or bunched/retroflex approximants): 'trill' (rare but attested); 'full tap'; 'weak tap' (with delayed tongue tip gesture, devoicing or slacker articulation); 'intermediate' (vowels with a strong dorsal gesture or ambiguous tokens where the presence of a dorsal gesture was unclear); 'approximant' (postalveolar approximant); 'zero' (no audible trace of /r/).…”

“…Coda /r/ weakening in words such as better, car, card, in vernacular Glaswegian is a well-documented change by the end of the 20th century (e.g. Lawson et al 2014Lawson et al , 2018. Working-class Glaswegian is also known for its distinctive voice quality, most stereotypically observed in the harsh, whispery, and pharyngealised voice of male speakers, such as the comedian, Billy Connolly (Macafee 1983).…”

Voice quality and coda /r/ in Glasgow English in the early 20th century

“…Our results reveal the expected range of variation and suggest a change already underway in female speakers. However, what we observe for these speakers appears to be merely the initial stage of =r=-loss, and our results contrast sharply with the picture from the end of the twentieth century, where auditory, acoustic, and articulatory studies all point to substantial =r=-weakening (derhoticization) in Glaswegian (Lawson et al, 2014(Lawson et al, , 2018Stuart-Smith, 2003).…”