Coarticulation Across Prosodic Domains in Italian: An Ultrasound Investigation

This work aims at exploring the phasing of vowels across prosodic boundaries, by analyzing ultrasound data relating to the production of V(#)CV (/i#ba/) sequences by three speakers of Italian. Sequences are inserted in sentences in such a way that C corresponds to the beginning of prosodic domains of various levels and it is strengthened depending on the type of boundary. The influence of prosodic boundaries is investigated on postboundary vowels by means of ultrasound data, which show that a smaller degree of (preservative) coarticulation is found when strong rather than weak prosodic boundaries are realized. Index Terms: ultrasound, coarticulation, prosodic domains

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