Re: YAEPT: track

Benct Jonsson wrote:
>It claimed that the actual phonetic realization of
>'/tSr/' where it occurs is [t`s`] -- not unreasonably
>if the realization of /r/ is retroflex, which it
>apparently is in most accents in both the US and
>the UK.
** all the following is 'as for my own speech', English
East Midlands upbringing but close to southern English
standard **

[t`s`] feels righter to me than [tS], partly because I
feel a slightly different articulatory gesture towards
the closure in /tS/ than in /tr/ - the first is laminal and
the second apical. In fact, the gesture itself doesn't
feel any different in /tr/ than in /t/+vowel. In /tr/,
however, my tongue tip starts moving backwards
towards its retroflex (post-alveolar) position for /r/
even before I release the closure. In /ta/ my tongue
moves rapidly downwards away from the closure, so
during the unvoiced interval before the /a/ voicing
starts, there is only a teeny moment of friction before
the apex leaves the vicinity of the alveolar ridge. But
in /tr/, the movement is predominantly backwards,
not downwards, so the tongue tip remains close to
the alveolar ridge and causes frication throughout
the unvoiced interval. Added to which, I think I
devoice /r/ in /tr/ anyway, so there's no discernible
voiced rhotic segment in /tra/, though the beginning
of /a/ is certainly coloured by the retroflex tongue
position.

Overall - yes, I agree with [t`s`] auditorily, but
articulatorily it's just a normal /t/ gesture moving
towards a devoiced retroflex /r/. /tSr/ feels rather
different - and even sounds slightly different :)

Jonathan.

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