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Re: YAEPT: track

From:Jonathan Knibb <j_knibb@...>
Date:Wednesday, June 14, 2006, 19:05
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. _________________________________________________________________ Be the first to hear what's new at MSN - sign up to our free newsletters! http://www.msn.co.uk/newsletters

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Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>