Home An X-Ray Investigation of Pharyngeal Constriction in American English Schwa
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

An X-Ray Investigation of Pharyngeal Constriction in American English Schwa

  • Bryan Gick
Published/Copyright: March 28, 2002

Abstract

A study of early X-ray footage of 4 subjects was conducted to test the prediction that there may be a midpharyngeal constriction in American English schwa. Results show a significant constriction during schwa relative to lingual rest position for all 4 speakers. This evidence contradicts views of American English schwa as having no articulatory target or place features, as well as those which have suggested a neutral target throughout the vocal tract. These findings, however, support claims connecting English schwa with reduced /r/. In addition to the basic effect 1 subject showed a bimodal pattern in schwa, which may indicate that this subject has distinct schwas in lexical vs. functional words, a property that has also been observed with respect to /r/ in r-vocalizing dialects.


verified


References

1 Alwan, A.A.; Narayanan, S.S.; Haker, K.: Toward articulatory-acoustic models for liquid approximants based on MRI and EPG data. Part II. The rhotics. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 101: 1078–1089 (1997).10.1121/1.417972Search in Google Scholar

2 Ash, S.: The vocalization of /l/ in Philadelphia; PhD diss. University of Pennsylvania (1982).Search in Google Scholar

3 Barry, W.: Comments on chapter 2 (Browman and Goldstein); in Docherty, Ladd, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. II: Gesture, segment, prosody, pp. 65–67 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992).Search in Google Scholar

4 Browman, C.P.; Goldstem, L.: ‘Targetless’ schwa: an articulatory analysis; in Docherty, Ladd, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. II: Gesture, segment, prosody, pp. 26–56 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992).10.1017/CBO9780511519918.003Search in Google Scholar

5 Browman, C.P.; Goldstein, L.: Gestural syllable position effects in American English; in Bell-Berti, Raphael, Producing speech: contemporary issues. For Katherine Safford Harris, pp. 19–34 (American Institute of Physics, Woodbury 1995).Search in Google Scholar

6 Cooper, F.S.; Abramson, A.S.: A pilot x-ray film of English articulations with stretched sound (Haskins Laboratories and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York 1960).Search in Google Scholar

7 Delattre, P.C.; Freeman, D.C.: A dialect study of American r’s by x-ray motion picture. Linguistics 44: 29–68 (1968).10.1515/ling.1968.6.44.29Search in Google Scholar

8 Gick, B.: A gesture-based account of intrusive consonants in English. Phonology 16: 29–54 (1999).10.1017/S0952675799003693Search in Google Scholar

9 Gick, B.: Articulatory correlates of ambisyllabicity in English glides and liquids; in Local, Ogden, Temple, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. VI: Constraints on phonetic interpretation (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, in press).Search in Google Scholar

10 Gick, B.; Kang, M.; Whalen, D.H.: MRI and X-ray evidence for commonality in the dorsal articulations of English vowels and liquids. Proc. 5th Semin. on Speech Production: Models and Data and the Crest Workshop on Models of Speech Production: Motor Planning and Articulatory Modeling, Kloster Seeon, Bavaria 2000.Search in Google Scholar

11 Giegerich, H.: English phonology (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992).10.1017/CBO9781139166126Search in Google Scholar

12 Giles, S.B.; Moll, K.L.: Cinefluorographic study of selected allophones of English /l/. Phonetica 31: 206–227 (1975).10.1159/000259670Search in Google Scholar

13 Hagiwara, R.: Acoustic realizations of American /r/ as produced by women and men. UCLA Working Papers Phonet. 90: (1995).Search in Google Scholar

14 Halle, M.; Mohanan, K.P.: Segmental phonology of modern English. Ling. Inquiry 16: 57–116 (1985).Search in Google Scholar

15 Hardcastle, W.; Barry, W.: Articulatory and perceptual factors in /l/ vocalisations in English. JIPA 15: 3–17 (1989).10.1017/S0025100300002930Search in Google Scholar

16 Heffner, R.-M.S.: General phonetics (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1950).Search in Google Scholar

17 Jones, C.: A history of English phonology (Longman, London 1989).Search in Google Scholar

18 Jones, D.: An English pronouncing dictionary; revised from 1917 (Dent & Sons, London 1928). Keating, P.; Wright, R.; Zhang, J.: Word-level asymmetries in consonant articulation. Revised version of UCLA Working Papers Phonet. 97, pp. 139–151 (unpublished).Search in Google Scholar

19 Kingston, J.: Comments on chapter 2 (Browman and Goldstein); in Docherty, Ladd, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. II: Gesture, segment, prosody, pp. 60–65 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992).Search in Google Scholar

20 McCarthy, J.: A case of surface constraint violation. Can. J. Ling. 38: 169–195 (1993).10.1017/S0008413100014730Search in Google Scholar

21 McCarthy, J.: A note on Boston r and the elsewhere condition. Appendix to McCarthy, Review of Iggy Roca (ed.) (1997) Derivations and constraints in phonology, Oxford University Press. Phonology (in press). Available only via the Internet at http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/∼jjmccart/appendix.pdf (1999).Search in Google Scholar

22 McMahon, A.; Foulkes, P.; Tollfree, L.: Gestural representation and lexical phonology. Phonology 11: 277–316 (1994).10.1017/S0952675700001974Search in Google Scholar

23 Schwab, R.J.; Gefter, W.B.; Pack, A.I.; Hoffman, E.A.: Dynamic imaging of the upper airway during respiration in normal subjects. J. appl. Physiol. 74: 1504–1514 (1993).10.1152/jappl.1993.74.4.1504Search in Google Scholar

24 Sproat, R.; Fujimura, O.: Allophonic variation in English /l/ and its implications for phonetic implementation. J. Phonet. 21: 291–311 (1993).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31340-3Search in Google Scholar

25 Trudo, F.J.; Gefter, W.B.; Welch, K.C.; Gupta, K.B.; Maislin, G.; Schwab, R.J. State-related changes in upper airway caliber and surrounding soft-tissue structures in normal subjects. Am. J. resp. crit. Care Med. 158: 1259–1270 (1998).10.1164/ajrccm.158.4.9712063Search in Google Scholar

26 Turk, A.: Articulatory phonetic clues to syllable affiliation: gestural characteristics of bilabial stops; in Keating, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. III: Phonological structure and phonetic form, pp. 107–135 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994).10.1017/CBO9780511659461.008Search in Google Scholar

27 Westbury, J.R.; Hashi, M.; Lindstrom, M.J.: Differences among speakers in articulation of American English /r/. Speech Commun. 26: 203–226 (1998).10.1016/S0167-6393(98)00058-2Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2002-03-28
Published in Print: 2002-03-01

© 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Downloaded on 15.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1159/000056204/html
Scroll to top button