Abstract

Production of click consonants by a single speaker of Khoekhoegowab was examined using real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rtMRI). This technology provides high frame-rate dynamic information about the configuration of the entire upper airway, including the lips, jaw, velum, sublingual cavity, tongue-root, and glottis. We demonstrate the utility of rtMRI in the study of clicks, as an unparalleled method for tracking the global coordination of speech articulators. Patterns of tongue shaping and lingual kinematics of click consonants in the Nama dialect of Khoekhoegowab are described, and the implications of this data for phonetic characterization and phonological models of linguo-velaric consonants are discussed.

Date

2014

Authors

Michael Proctor, Yinghua Zhu, Adam Lammert, Asterios Toutios, Bonny Sands, Ulrich Hummel, Shrikanth Narayanan

Journal

In Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics

Pages

337-366