Tamil is unusual among the world’s languages in that some of its dialects have five contrasting liquids. This paper focuses on the characterization of these sounds in terms of articulatory geometry and kinematics, as well as their articulatory-acoustic relations. This study illustrates the use of multiple techniques—static palatography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetometry (EMMA)—for investigating both static and dynamic articulatory characteristics using a single native speaker of Tamil. Dialectal merger and neutralization phenomena exhibited by the liquids of Tamil are discussed. Comparisons of English /ɹ/ and /l/ with Tamil provide evidence for generality in underlying mechanisms of rhotic and lateral production. The articulatory data justify the postulation of a class of rhotics and a class of laterals in Tamil, but do not provide evidence in favor of a larger class of liquids. Such a superclass appears to have largely an acoustic basis.
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October 1999
October 01 1999
Geometry, kinematics, and acoustics of Tamil liquid consonants
Shrikanth Narayanan;
Shrikanth Narayanan
AT&T Labs—Research, 180 Park Avenue, Florham Park, New Jersey 07932-0971
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Dani Byrd;
Dani Byrd
Haskins Laboratories, 270 Crown Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511
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Abigail Kaun
Abigail Kaun
Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
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J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106, 1993–2007 (1999)
Article history
Received:
December 10 1997
Accepted:
May 15 1999
Citation
Shrikanth Narayanan, Dani Byrd, Abigail Kaun; Geometry, kinematics, and acoustics of Tamil liquid consonants. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 1999; 106 (4): 1993–2007. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.427946
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