The timing of laryngeal and lingual gestures of apical stops in dependence

on syllable position: An EPG and transillumination study

By S. Fuchs, C. Mooshammer, and P. Hoole

Our investigation pursued two aims: first the experimental setup allowed us to study the coordination between lingual and laryngeal gestures by simultaneously recording contact patterns by means of EPG and glottal devoicing by means of transillumination. The second goal was to study the potential influence of the syllable position on the control of the laryngeal gesture for a voiceless alveolar stop. Evidence was found that the laryngeal opening gesture was dependent on syllable position. Glottal opening in initial position occurred in all cases and the beginning of the laryngeal opening gesture was closely related to the oral closure onset. In medial and final position glottal opening was whether temporally as well as amplitude related reduced or did not occur. Speaker dependent differences were found for these positions. We suggest that speech motor control is influenced by syllable position for the laryngeal gestures produced in voiceless alveolar stops. /t/ in initial position was produced with more accuracy and it shows variable pattern for medial and final position.