An EMMA/EPG study of voicing contrast correlates in German

Except for cavity enlargement strategies there is not much consensus about the involvement of supralaryngeal movements in the production of the voicing contrast. In order to study supralaryngeal stop production mechanisms we investigated the kinematics of tongue tip and jaw as well as tongue-palate contact patterns for four German subjects. We took alveolar stops in word medial (Cm) and word final position (Cf) into account. Results from Cm provide evidence that even though acoustic results exhibited consistently a longer closure duration for the voiceless stops, speaker-dependent articulatory mechanisms were involved. In word final position the rule of final devoicing applies in German, i.e. voiced stops are neutralised to voiceless. Results from acoustics and EPG generally showed complete neutralisation, but some differences, particularly in jaw position at the consonantal target and in tongue-jaw coordination, are still maintained.