Our paper addresses the question of cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the articulatory patterns of plosives. An EPG investigation of the English and Norwegian plosives /t/ and /d/ shows a larger contact area between tongue and palate for /t/ than for /d/ in both languages. The investigation also shows a more laminal articulation, larger contact areas, for both plosives in Norwegian compared to English. We suggest that the same general phonetic- physiological factors may explain the larger contact areas for /t/ than for /d/ in both languages. The oral air pressure is stronger during the articulation of /t/ than of /d/. In order to prevent air from escaping between the tongue and the palate, a firmer contact is needed for voiceless than for voiced plosives. The larger contact areas for the Norwegian plosives compared to the English ones are interpreted as the result of different phonological patterns in the two languages.
Cite as: Moen, I., Simonsen, H.G. (1997) Effects of voicing on /t,d/ tongue/palate contact in English and norwegian. Proc. 5th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (Eurospeech 1997), 2399-2402, doi: 10.21437/Eurospeech.1997-273
@inproceedings{moen97_eurospeech,
author={Inger Moen and Hanne Gram Simonsen},
title={{Effects of voicing on /t,d/ tongue/palate contact in English and norwegian}},
year=1997,
booktitle={Proc. 5th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (Eurospeech 1997)},
pages={2399--2402},
doi={10.21437/Eurospeech.1997-273}
}