Electropalatography in the analysis of connected speech processes

The paper reports an articulatory and perceptual study of a connected speech process, the assimilation of a final alveolar to a following velar or bilabial. Our EPG investigations show that this assimilatory process is gradual in articulatory terms, not discrete, as assumed in most phonological theories. The main question considered is that of the perceptual correlates of this articulatory gradualness. An experiment was devised in which phonetically trained listeners were asked (a) to identify a word followed in a carrier phrase by a velar or a bilabial as having an (underlying) final alveolar or a final velar or bilabial, and (b) to characterize the degree to which words identified as having an alveolar are assimilated to the following velar or bilabial. Results suggest (I) that there is no discrete perceptual boundary between the various types of articulation (including the underlying velars/bilabials) presented on the tape; and (2) there is some evidence that assimilations may never be ‘complete’, but may show a residual tongue body configuration characteristic of an alveolar, even when there is no discernible (either articulatorily or auditorily) alveolar gesture. Consequences for phonetics/ phonology and logopaedics are considered, and suggestions for further research are made.