Timing effects of syllable structure and stress on nasals: A real-time MRI examination

Abstract

The coordination of velum and oral gestures for English [n] is studied using real-time MRI movies to reconstruct vocal tract aperture functions. This technique allows for the examination of parts of the vocal tract otherwise inaccessible to dynamic imaging or movement tracking. The present experiment considers syllable onset, coda, and juncture geminate nasals and also addresses the effects of a variety of word stress patterns on segment internal coordination. We find a bimodal timing pattern in which near-syn…