Articulatory Attributes in Korean Nonassimilating Contexts

This study examined several kinematic properties of the primary articulator (the tongue dorsum) and the supplementary articulator (the jaw) in the articulation of the voiceless velar stop (/k/) within nonassimilating contexts. We examined in particular the spatiotemporal properties (constriction duration and constriction maxima) from the constriction onset to the constriction offset by analyzing a velar (/k/) followed by the coronal fricative (/s/), the coronal stop (/t/), and the labial (/p/) in across-word boundary conditions (/k#s/, /k#t/, and /k#p/). Along with these measurements, we investigated intergestural temporal coordination between C1 and C2 and the jaw articulator in relation to its coordination with the articulation of consonant sequences. The articulatory movement data was collected by means of electromagnetic midsagittal articulometry (EMMA). Four native speakers of Seoul Korean participated in the laboratory experiment. The results showed several characteristics. First, a velar (/k/) in C1 was not categorically reduced. Constriction duration and constriction degree of the velar (/k/) were similar within nonassimilating contexts (/k#s/=/k#t/=/k#p/). This might mean that spatiotemporal attributes during constriction duration were stable and consistent across different contexts, which might be subsequently associated with the nontarget status of the velar in place assimilation. Second, the gestural overlap could be represented as the order of /k#s / (less) < /k#p / (intermediate) < /k#t / (more) as we measured the onset-to-onset lag (a longer lag indicated shorter gestural overlap.). This indicates a gestural overlap within nonassimilating contexts may not be constrained by any of the several constraints including the perceptua