Different constrictors

• lips
• tongue tip
• tongue dorsum
• tongue root

Distinct constrictors (lips, tongue tip, tongue dorsum) emerge early in babbling of infants.

Within-constrictor differentiation:

• Constriction Degree (CD)
• Constriction Location (CL)
• Constrictor Orientation (CO)

Traditional "Places of Articulation" classification

comprises constrictor, CL, CO

Coronal stops

Coronal constrictor exhibits the most possibilities

• Tongue tip is most flexible articulator
• Tongue tip has richest neural innervation

 

Constriction Location (CL)

Where (along fixed surface) is maximal constriction?

Distributional basis for categories for CL (and CO?) 

Constrictor Orientation (CO)

Possible controlled variables:

(1) Orientation of constrictor with respect to fixed surface

apical	tip up	blade down
laminal	tip down	blade up
apico-laminal	tip up	blade up

(2) Part of tongue making contact with fixed surface

 

Data on Constriction Location and Orientation

Primary source of data is Direct Palatography

shows pattern of contact between tongue and palate

Technique:

(1) Phonetician's salad dressing (olive oil, charcoal, lemon) is applied to surface of tongue tip and blade.

(2) Utterance with single coronal is produced.

(3) Blackened area of palate: palatogram

(4) Salad dressing applied to palate and utterance is repeated.

(5) Blackened area of tongue: linguogram

 

Limitation of technique:
Areas contacted may not all be contacted simultaneously. (No dynamics represented).

Contrasts in CL and CO

Maximum number of contrasting "places of articulation" for coronal stops appears to be 4 (Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996).

Usually, this involves cross-classification of CL and CO.

Several languages, primarily Australian, show this pattern:

• Yanyuwa
• Wubuy
• Wangurri

Eastern Arrernte (after Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996)

(audio examples here from Wubuy)

Wubuy (Best et al, 2010)

When we examine language differences, we need to consider more than just four possibilities.

Possible symbols:

	Apical	Laminal
Labial
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Post-alveolar

Contrasts among anterior coronals

Possible contrasting locations:

• labial (linguo-labials)
• interdental (laminal dental)
• dental
• alveolar

Most typical contrast is dental vs. alveolar.

Dental stops are usually apico-laminal with contact both with teeth and alveolar ridge, as shown from French (after Simon, 1967):

apico-laminal denti-alveolar

But apical dental stops are possible, as in Breton (after Bothorel 1982):

Alveolar stops are usually apical.

but apical and laminal alveolars may contrast as in Bulgarian (after Stojkov 1942) :

Languages without contrast among anterior coronals

Speakers may show variability in CL, CO
e.g., French, English (Dart, 1998)

 

Traditional Description

French stops	laminal dental
English stops	apical alveolar

Palatographic evidence
This pattern is statistically valid, but there is considerable variability across speakers.

Measurements:

location	orientation

 

	French	English
	A = Apical, UA = Upper Apical	L = Laminal; AL = apico-laminal

Acoustic analysis suggests that
Speakers of English and French are more consistent than would be indicated by palatography.

Possible explanation

Rest posture of tongue is higher in French than English (would explain acoustic differences).

Coordinative structure for coronal stops includes:

• tongue tip
• tongue body
• jaw

Because of differences in rest posture of tongue, French and English would differ in relative contribution of tongue body and tongue tip articulators to coronal constrictions.

French more tongue body

English more tongue tip.

Contrasts among non-anterior coronals

Apical post-alveolar (retroflex)

Laminal post-alveolar (palato-alveolar)

 

Types of apical post-alveolars:

• apical (e.g., Hindi, Australian languages)
• sub-apical (e.g., Toda, Tamil, Telegu)

 

Tamil stops and liquids

Contrasts among Dorsal Constrictions

Constriction Locations

• palatal
• velar
• uvular

Languages seem to contrast at most two of these.

Most languages have velars.

Quechua contrasts velar and uvular stops with (coronal) laminal post-alveolars.

Ngwo contrasts laminal post-alveolar and palatal stops (after Ladefoged & Maddieson, 1996):

Radical constrictions

Agul

pharyngeal fricatives

epiglottal stops and fricatives

Fricatives