Recent studies have indicated that vowels in prosodically strong positions (e.g., in stressed syllables and at edges of prosodic boundaries) are not only strongly articulated, but also resistant to coarticulation with neighboring vowels. This paper further examines vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in English by analyzing extensive articulatory data from six American English speakers, using the Electromagnetic Articulograph (EMA). It is hypothesized that vowels in prosodically strong positions are more resistant to coarticulation with their neighbors, and at the same time encroach more on their neighbors. To test this, sentences were designed so that they included /V1♯bV2/ where V1 and V2 were manipulated, resulting in /a-a/, /i-i/ (control condition) and /a-i/, /i-a/ (test condition). Vowels also varied in sentence stress (accented versus unaccented) and in the intervening boundaries (♯ = Word, ip, IP). The vertical and horizontal positions of three tongue points and jaw are examined at five different points (onset, first quarter, middle, three quarters and end) in the vowel, to assess how much of the vowel articulation is anticipated or carried over at different points of the vowel. This shows variation in degree of V-to-V coarticulation under various prosodic conditions. [Work supported by NSF doctoral research grant.]
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