LABIALIZATION IN AMAZIGH: ACOUSTIC AND ARTICULATORY MARKING OVER TIME

Résumé 0

Labialization is the most widely distributed secondary articulation in the world's languages, however, literature on its phonetic properties is rare. This study provides an analysis of acoustic and articulatory markings of labialization in Tashlhiyt Amazigh. We present speech production data from six native speakers producing a set of plain and labialized dorsal consonants in [aCa] sequences. Formant trajectories of the vowels surrounding the consonants are analyzed as well as articulatory trajectories of the lip aperture and the tongue during the consonantal movements. In the acoustic domain, the Bayesian spline regression analysis reveals a lowering of F2 in the vowels adjacent to labialized consonants. In the articulatory domain, lip protrusion and tongue retraction are the primary articulatory correlates for labialization. Taken together these results suggest that labialization in Tashlhiyt is an instance of labio-velarization.