ABSTRACT
The most frequent means of defining or describing the type of sound referred to as a tap is with reference to its duration – the tap is similar to its cognate stop, except shorter. There has not, however, been total agreement among phoneticians as to this. Some have made reference to the nature of the gesture as well as its duration, finding it necessary to distinguish between a tap and a flap, as well as between these two on the one hand, and a stop on the other. In this paper I briefly review some of the various views contributing to the debate and then present evidence from electropalatography in an effort to arrive at a more satisfactory characterisation of this type of articulatory gesture. It is concluded that the degree of linguo-palatal contact involved is more relevant to the production of the tap than has usually been considered.
