No abstract

Tashlhiyt Berber is a language in which every consonant can take up the nucleus position in a syllable. The present study investigates how gestural properties are modified when the consonants occur in different syllable positions (onset, nucleus, coda). Furthermore, the effect of higher structural components such as morphology on the respective gestural organization patterns are examined. Therefore, we collected articulographic data for different consonantal roots, such as /bdg/ and /gzm/ with varying affixes, entailing different syllabification patterns in Tashlhiyt. Consonantal properties in different syllable positions are investigated with respect to their intragestural properties and intergestural properties, i.e. bonding strength. Furthermore, gestural coherence with respect to prefixation were examined. Results reveal that consonantal gestures were not modified on the intragestural level in terms of duration, velocity, stiffness or displacement, when the morphological structure was kept constant. However, on the intergestural level syllable relation was encoded, revealing a tighter bonding for onset-nucleus relations than for heterosyllabic sequences. Furthermore, when changing the morphological marker, modifications of intragestural parameters occur, inducing temporal changes of consonantal gestures. We conclude that higher structural components should be taken into account when investigating syllable internal timing patterns.