Lawson, E., Stuart-Smith, J. and Scobbie, J. M. (2018) The role of gesture delay in coda /r/ weakening: an articulatory, auditory and acoustic study. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(3), pp. 1646-1657. (doi: 10.1121/1.5027833) (PMID:29604687)
|
Text
159594.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. 981kB |
Abstract
The cross-linguistic tendency of coda consonants to weaken, vocalize, or be deleted is shown to have a phonetic basis, resulting from gesture reduction, or variation in gesture timing. This study investigates the effects of the timing of the anterior tongue gesture for coda /r/ on acoustics and perceived strength of rhoticity, making use of two sociolects of Central Scotland (working- and middle-class) where coda /r/ is weakening and strengthening, respectively. Previous articulatory analysis revealed a strong tendency for these sociolects to use different coda /r/ tongue configurations—working- and middle-class speakers tend to use tip/front raised and bunched variants, respectively; however, this finding does not explain working-class /r/ weakening. A correlational analysis in the current study showed a robust relationship between anterior lingual gesture timing, F3, and percept of rhoticity. A linear mixed effects regression analysis showed that both speaker social class and linguistic factors (word structure and the checked/unchecked status of the prerhotic vowel) had significant effects on tongue gesture timing and formant values. This study provides further evidence that gesture delay can be a phonetic mechanism for coda rhotic weakening and apparent loss, but social class emerges as the dominant factor driving lingual gesture timing variation.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Lawson, Dr Eleanor and Stuart-Smith, Professor Jane |
| Authors: | Lawson, E., Stuart-Smith, J., and Scobbie, J. M. |
| College/School: | College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics |
| Journal Name: | Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Publisher: | Acoustical Society of America |
| ISSN: | 0001-4966 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1520-8524 |
| Published Online: | 26 March 2018 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2018 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 143(3): 1646-1657 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record
Altmetric
Altmetric