Geometry, kinematics, and acoustics of Tamil liquid consonants

Abstract

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 /[symbol: see text]/ 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.

The Contested Fifth Liquid in Malayalam: A Window into the Lateral-Rhotic Relationship in Dravidian Languages

“…approximant [McDonough and Johnson, 1997;Narayanan et al, 1999]. Both studies also find some acoustic similarities between /ʐ/ and /ɭ/ in Tamil, and McDonough and Johnson [1997] report on perceptual identification of /ʐ/ as /ɭ/ by speakers of dialects where /ʐ/ has been lost.…”

“…There are two relatively recent studies on a comparable sound in Tamil which has undergone the same controversy in its description in the literature [McDonough and Johnson, 1997;Narayanan et al, 1999]. These are reviewed here and their findings will be compared with our study on Malayalam.…”

“…In another study on Tamil liquids, Narayanan et al [1999] examined sustained productions of each of the liquids in a final /paC/ context as produced by the first author using static palatography, magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetometry. Their results concurred with those of McDonough and Johnson [1997] regarding the fifth liquid being a retroflex post-alveolar approximant (for which they also use the [ɻ] symbol).…”

Phonetic Typology and Positional Allophones for Alveolar Rhotics in Catalan

“…Thus, the dental, alveolar and retroflex trills in Toda show an F1 increase (409,617 and 565 Hz) and an F2 decrease (1,573, 1,390 and 1,350 Hz) with tongue body backing and lowering, and an F3 decrease as place of articulation becomes more posterior (2,577, 2,535 and 2,310 Hz) [Spajić et al, 1996]. F3 is also higher for prealveolar taps than for postalveolar taps in Tamil [Narayanan et al, 1999]. According to some of the studies mentioned above, formant frequency values for other languages reveal that more anterior trills also have a higher F2 and F3 than more posterior ones (1,600-1,800 vs. 1,200-1,450 Hz; 2,300-2,500 vs. 2,300 Hz or lower).…”

Descrição acústico-articulatória e perceptiva das líquidas do português brasileiro produzidas por crianças com e sem transtorno fonológico

“…Entretanto, apesar das líquidas apresentarem características vocálicas em sua formação, deve-se tomar cuidado em estabelecer qualquer generalização entre a correlação acústico-articulatória descrita para as vogais (NARAYANAN et al, 1999 O /r/ do inglês norte-americano é caracterizado por apresentar um padrão acústico estável com o F3 baixo, chegando bem próximo ao F2 (DALSTON, 1975;FUJIMURA & ERICKSON, 1997;ESPY-WILSON et al, 2000;MCGOWAN et al, 2004). Entretanto, os motivos acústicos que ocasionam essa queda no F3 ainda são desconhecidos.…”