Abstract:

This paper presents kinematic data and a statistical analysis of the MRC Psycholinguistic Database in a study of patterns of syllable coda structure in English bisyllables. X-ray microbeam and OPTOTRAK data were used to study spontaneous errors in rapid speech. Subjects repeated real-word and nonsense bisyllables at increasing speaking rates. All subjects made errors that harmonized the place of articulation of the codas at faster speaking rates. Errors were determined by kinematic changes in the tongue and lip gestures. Analysis of the MRC Psycholinguistic Database revealed that coda harmonies occur statistically more frequently than chance in English even when the statistical incidence of segments are taken into account. The experimental evidence is discussed in terms of production constraints on syllable production. The influence of stress pattern, manner, and place of articulation are explored. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD Grant No. DC-00594 and NSERC.]