Abstract
Are palatal consonants articulated by multiple tongue gestures (coronal and dorsal) or by a single gesture that brings the tongue into contact with the palate at several places of articulation? The lenition of palatal consonants (resulting in approximants) has been presented as evidence that palatals are simple, not complex: When reduced, they do not lose their coronal gesture and become dorsals; instead, they manifest reduced linguopalatal contact while retaining their anterior place of articulation. The frequently-reported deocclusivization of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) palatal nasal may support this claim. However, the linguopalatal configuration of this sound has not been studied directly. Electropalatographic evidence from three speakers of BP (compared with data from three speakers of Peninsular Spanish) demonstrates that the palatal nasal is frequently realized as an approximant. There is no evidence of anterior occlusion in BP's post-palatal, lenited nasal. Under conditions of focus/hyperarticulation, there is no evidence of stronger/more anterior occlusion. We argue that the articulatory target of the BP palatal nasal is neither occluded nor anterior.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 477-502 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Language and speech |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2012 |
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Keywords
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Peninsular Spanish
- electropalatography
- nasals
- palatals
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Sociology and Political Science
- Linguistics and Language
- Speech and Hearing
Cite this
Palatal Complexity Revisited : An Electropalatographic Analysis of /ɲ/ in Brazilian Portuguese with Comparison to Peninsular Spanish. / Shosted, Ryan Keith; Hualde, Jose Ignacio; Scarpace, Daniel.
In: Language and speech, Vol. 55, No. 4, 01.12.2012, p. 477-502.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Palatal Complexity Revisited
T2 - An Electropalatographic Analysis of /ɲ/ in Brazilian Portuguese with Comparison to Peninsular Spanish
AU - Shosted, Ryan Keith
AU - Hualde, Jose Ignacio
AU - Scarpace, Daniel
PY - 2012/12/1
Y1 - 2012/12/1
N2 - Are palatal consonants articulated by multiple tongue gestures (coronal and dorsal) or by a single gesture that brings the tongue into contact with the palate at several places of articulation? The lenition of palatal consonants (resulting in approximants) has been presented as evidence that palatals are simple, not complex: When reduced, they do not lose their coronal gesture and become dorsals; instead, they manifest reduced linguopalatal contact while retaining their anterior place of articulation. The frequently-reported deocclusivization of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) palatal nasal may support this claim. However, the linguopalatal configuration of this sound has not been studied directly. Electropalatographic evidence from three speakers of BP (compared with data from three speakers of Peninsular Spanish) demonstrates that the palatal nasal is frequently realized as an approximant. There is no evidence of anterior occlusion in BP's post-palatal, lenited nasal. Under conditions of focus/hyperarticulation, there is no evidence of stronger/more anterior occlusion. We argue that the articulatory target of the BP palatal nasal is neither occluded nor anterior.
AB - Are palatal consonants articulated by multiple tongue gestures (coronal and dorsal) or by a single gesture that brings the tongue into contact with the palate at several places of articulation? The lenition of palatal consonants (resulting in approximants) has been presented as evidence that palatals are simple, not complex: When reduced, they do not lose their coronal gesture and become dorsals; instead, they manifest reduced linguopalatal contact while retaining their anterior place of articulation. The frequently-reported deocclusivization of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) palatal nasal may support this claim. However, the linguopalatal configuration of this sound has not been studied directly. Electropalatographic evidence from three speakers of BP (compared with data from three speakers of Peninsular Spanish) demonstrates that the palatal nasal is frequently realized as an approximant. There is no evidence of anterior occlusion in BP's post-palatal, lenited nasal. Under conditions of focus/hyperarticulation, there is no evidence of stronger/more anterior occlusion. We argue that the articulatory target of the BP palatal nasal is neither occluded nor anterior.
KW - Brazilian Portuguese
KW - Peninsular Spanish
KW - electropalatography
KW - nasals
KW - palatals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84869819314&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84869819314&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0023830911434120
DO - 10.1177/0023830911434120
M3 - Article
C2 - 23420979
AN - SCOPUS:84869819314
VL - 55
SP - 477
EP - 502
JO - Language and Speech
JF - Language and Speech
SN - 0023-8309
IS - 4
ER -