DOI: 10.5507/ff.14.24440606.20

Phonological Structure and Articulatory Phonetic Realization of Syllabic Liquids

©tefan Beņu¹

Syllabic liquids, such as /l/ or /r/ in Slovak words such as vlk (“wolf”) or krb (“fireplace”), occur freely in stressed positions and with complex onsets. Phonologically, they behave like vowels, which can be seen in several morpho-phonological alternations. The paper addresses two questions: how a phonetic consonant with a significant obstruction in the vocal tract can function phonologically as a vowel, and why liquids are cross-linguistically more marked syllable nuclei than vowels. Previous proposals suggested that the syllabicity of liquids relates to their coordination patterns: liquids in the nucleus position require so-called “open transition,” which facilitates the recoverability of the consonants adjacent to the syllabic liquid. Here we extend this research by examining the differences between the two articulatory liquid gestures: consonantal tongue tip raising and vocalic tongue dorsum retraction. Our articulatory data suggest that the coordination of the vocalic liquid gesture with the consonantal onset gesture also facilitates the syllabicity of Slovak liquids.

pages: 281-291



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