Articulatory and acoustic correlates of tongue root advancement in Khalkha Mongolian

This paper presents articulatory and acoustic data of tongue root contrasts in Khalkha Mongolian, comparing acoustic cues in F1 and F2 to measurements of tongue root position from 3-D/4-D ultrasound imaging. The primary acoustic cue of [ + ATR] across languages is decreased F1 (Stalwart, 2008), with various effects on F2 and F1 bandwidth found in the literature. Washington (2016) found that Kyrgyz and Kazakh covary [±ATR] and [±back], with [ + ATR,-back] marked by increased F1 and decreased F2, based on acoustic and ultrasound data. Khalkha Mongolian contrasts [−ATR, + back] vowels both with [ + ATR, + back], conditioned by vowel harmony; and [ + ATR, −back] vowels, conditioned by palatalized consonants. This paper compares formants of these three classes of vowels with measures of tongue root position, taken from 3-D/4-D Ultrasound images of 6 Khalkha speakers. Comparisons of formants of these three classes of vowels, correlated with tongue root measurements, make clear the acoustic correlates of tongue root advancement in vowel formants. The [ + ATR, + back] vowels are marked by decreased F1, while the [ + ATR, −back] vowels show decreased F1 and increased F2.