the movement of articulators

[steve1980]

Hello everyone,

I really need a help in the movements of articulators in word 'striped'. Can you please tell me if the final sound /t/ can be described in the same way what a second /t/. If the movement of articulators is different, can you please write your ideas. I am having an exam on Monday and just can't sort it out.

Many thanks

[Daniel]

Can you give a little more background about the context of this question? Are you just interested in the physical movements of the articulators, or is this with a particular theory (such as Articulatory Phonology)?

At a broad level, yes, they are the same. Both are [t], a voiceless alveolar stop. Neither is aspirated (following [s], usually [t] is unaspirated, and often at the end of a word a [t] or [d] is unreleased). It's possible that the first sound is actually [t] while the second is [tʰ] with aspiration because it could be released. It also depends on which dialect you're talking about. Final Ts and Ds in English have several variants (usually in unconditioned free variation).

But anyway, in terms of the tongue movement it should be basically identical, with perhaps some slightly differences in timing and whether there's any release.

Is that enough info? Depending on the class you're taking this could be a very simple "yes" or a much more complicated answer with subtle differences.

[steve1980]

Hi,
Many thanks for reply. I have an exam ( English phonetics and phonology) and one of the questions will be - Describe the movements of the articulators in the word ‘striped’.
My questions is whether the description of the first /t/ such as:

"to produce /t/ the blade of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge. As a result of this, the airstream is stopped, causing pressure to build slightly before being released through the mouth. /t/ is a voiceless alveolar plosive, the vocal folds are still relaxed and do not vibrate (are abducted). The lips are neutral but slightly parted."

can be used to describe the final one.

many thanks

   

[Daniel]

Generally speaking, yes. It's possible that exactly that occurs.

The places of potential variation are:

causing pressure to build slightly before being released through the mouth

The word-final T might not be released at all. So the current sound (I guess the aspiration from the P in this case) would be stopped by the alveolar closure, but there might not be a release following that or much pressure, if at the same time the glottis were closed to stop the pressure from the lungs building. (Eventually, of course, the tongue would move at the stop would be released, but this wouldn't necessarily be audible or really part of the "word", especially when the glottis has already reduced the pressure.)

The lips are neutral but slightly parted.

For the final T, the lips might be closed, or might close very soon after the T closure.


There could also be slight differences in aspiration, which is due to VOT (Voice Onset Time), basically when the vowel starts. So this would be a different glottal configuration after the /t/. Usually that doesn't occur after an /s/ (actually /st/ is articulated a lot like /sd/, because in English /d/ isn't voiced anyway, it's just unaspirated-- so usually "t" is really [tʰ] and "d" is really [t]). I believe this could be described as a constriction of the vocal folds (for frication) along with the release of the pressure.


But generally, yes, the articulation is very similar.

[steve1980]

many thanks for help