Articulatory consequences of lexical stress on post-tonic velar plosives in Italian

Bibliographic Data

ID4579107
AuthorsBowei Shao (0000-0002-3804-0484, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Anne Hermes (0000-0003-1111-0005, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Philipp Buech (0000-0001-7549-1949, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Maria Giavazzi (0000-0002-5629-7283, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume108
Pages101371
Publication date2025-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Phonetics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-4470 • E-ISSN: 1095-8576
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.wocn.2024.101371
OpenAlexW4405114179
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited50

Lexical stress in Italian enlarges and lengthens post-tonic velar closure gesture. • Temporally, stressed vowels delay post-tonic velar targets across syllable boundaries. • Spatially, post-tonic velars retract in place of articulation. • These two modulations may block post-tonic velar palatalization. Lexically prominent positions are phonologically privileged: they are often phonetically strengthened and they are loci of contrast preservation. Cross-linguistically, stress-conditioned alternations target stress-adjacent consonants independently of syllabic boundaries. We argue that the phonetic bases of these processes can be found in the articulatory modulations induced by stress. They are anchored in the stressed vowel but have spill-over effects on adjacent consonants. In this study, we investigate the articulation of velar consonants in a palatalizing context. By comparing two conditions, with or without stress modulations, we aim to investigate potential articulatory underpinnings of a stress-conditioned phonological process, i.e., velar palatalization in Italian plural nouns and adjectives, which is largely blocked in post-tonic position. Using articulatory data (EMA), we show that lexical stress induces temporal and spatial modulations on post-tonic velar consonants. Temporal modulations surface with a delayed target achievement of the consonants’ constriction gestures. Spatial modulations surface with a further back place of articulation in post-tonic velars. Both effects are due to the strengthening of the stressed vowel. We discuss the implications of our findings within the μ -gesture proposal of Articulatory Phonology for the distribution of palatalization in Italian

Linguistics · Speech recognition · Stress (linguistics) · Tonic (physiology) · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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