PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS OF APICAL TRILLS AND ASSIMILATORY BEHAVIOR

This paper investigates how the highly constrained articulatory and aerodynamic requirements of tongue-tip trills determine the assimilation of neighboring segments, specifically lingual fricatives. Articulatory, acoustic and aerodynamic analysis of trills and fricatives were made for three Catalan speakers. The assimilation of lingual fricatives to tongue-tip trills is due to the early onset of articulatory movements for the trill which override the critical articulatory configuration and time limen required to generate turbulence for fricatives. Phrasal boundaries proved to have an effect on fricative to trill assimilation suggesting effects of time constraints and programming units. Aerodynamic analysis showed that fricatives were more resistant to variations in pharyngeal pressure than trills. Thus trills allow a narrower range of pressure variation than fricatives, and have more constrained aerodynamic requirements. Assimilation of lingual fricatives to adjacent trills can be seen as an effect of articulatory and aerodynamic competition (and possibly of auditory integrity of onset consonants).