Coarticulation in VCV Utterances: Spectrographic Measurements

Abstract

In this paper, the formant transitions in vowel + stop consonant + vowel utterances spoken by Swedish, American, and Russian talkers are studied spectrographically. The data suggest a physiological model in terms of which the VCV articulations are represented by a basic diphthongal gesture with an independent stop-consonant gesture superimposed on its transitional portion. This interpretation necessitates reevaluation of the locus theory proposed by the workers of the Haskins Laboratories. Some conclusions about the general nature of the neural instructions behind the VCV gestures are discussed.