Abstract:

The phonological status of diphthongal off-glides has long been controversial, with some researchers classifying them as consonants, others as vowels, and still others as vocalic features. The present experiment used electromagnetometer and video data to measure the effect of following context on the labiovelar off-glide of the diphthong /aw/ for three speakers of different dialects of American English. Kinematics of lip and tongue movement were measured, with findings showing the magnitude of lip aperture to be significantly smaller when followed by /a/ than when followed by /ha/, resulting in a constriction intermediate in size between that of the preconsonantal final off-glide and that of the onset glide /w/. Such sensitivity to following context indicates a partial resyllabification of the final off-glide into the onset of the following syllable, a property heretofore observed only in coda consonants. These results support the view that diphthongal off-glides are best analyzed as consonants occupying syllable coda position. [Work supported by NSF and by NIH Grant Nos. HD-01994, DC-02717.]