ABSTRACT
The experiments reported in Chapter 3 investigated the articulatory properties and perceptual consequences of the plain/palatalized contrast. The results demonstrated that substantial differences existed between the stops and between environments in terms of the tongue body magnitude and the presence or absence of articulatory release. These asymmetries reflect gestural properties of the consonants in question and the positional variation of these properties due to independent dynamic factors: gestural reduction, inter-gestural timing and overlap. The articulatory asymmetries are reflected in the acoustic signal, with certain differences magnified (stop bursts) and others blurred (formant transitions).
