An EPG and EMA study of apicals in stressed and unstressed position in Arrernte

We present EPG (electropalatography) and EMA (electro-magnetic articulometry) data from two female speakers of Arrernte, a language of Central Australia. We focus on the apical consonants /t/ and /ʈ/, both of which have previously been shown to have a higher spectral centre of gravity for the stop burst when preceding a stressed syllable. Articulatory results suggest that the tongue is most retracted for the retroflex in the weak (i.e. unstressed) context, but that both apicals have a more advanced tongue position in strong (i.e. stressed) positions. In general, there is more variability in tongue-palate contact patterns for the alveolar /t/ than for the retroflex /ʈ/. In addition, jaw position is highest for /t/ in stressed position, and lowest for /ʈ/ in unstressed position. We suggest that the most prototypical retroflex is the one found in the weak prosodic position.