<OT> New Posting: ROA-641

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 641-0104

Coordination, perceptibility and the syllable in consonant cluster phonotactics

Lisa Davidson <lisa.davidson at nyu.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=641


Abstract:
The status of the syllable as a phonological unit has been
both challenged and supported by phonetically-informed data.
The Licensing-by-Cue framework contends that perceptibility,
not syllable structure, is relevant in determining phonotactics
(Steriade 1997), whereas gestural approaches demonstrate
the importance of the syllable in accounting for differences
in coordination (Browman and Goldstein 1995). In this paper,
Gestural Association Theory (GAT) is formulated to unify
the insights provided by both Licensing-by-Cue and gestural
phonology. Following Gafos (2002), the grammar contains
COORDINATION constraints which establish the temporal relationshi
ps between gestures in the output. Furthermore, two new
types of constraints are introduced: ASSOCIATION and *OVERLAP.
ASSOCIATION constraints define whether consonant and vowel
sequences form a unit for the purpose of coordination, and
*OVERLAP constraints encode phonotactic restrictions—including
those based on perceptual grounds—by prohibiting the overlap
of certain gestures. First, GAT is illustrated with an analysis
of permissible consonant sequences in English. It is then
extended to account for how speakers repair illegal word-initial
clusters (e.g. /fp/, /zb/), which is examined using ultrasound
imaging of the tongue.

Comments: 
Keywords: Articulatory Phonology, gestures, consonant clusters, temporal coordination, ultrasound
Areas: Phonology,Phonetics
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=641