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Coronal contrasts in Anong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2009

Ela Thurgood*
Affiliation:
Department of English, California State University, Chicoethurgood@csuchico.edu

Abstract

This study examines acoustic characteristics of a three-way distinction among a set of voiceless coronal fricatives and two sets of voiceless coronal affricates in Anong, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language. The study shows a lack of parallelism between the fricative and affricate series. The fricatives are well differentiated by spectral shapes and formant transitions of the following vowels, but not by the center of gravity. The affricates are well differentiated by the center of gravity, but not by spectral shapes nor by formant transitions of the following vowels. The study shows that /ʂ/ is acoustically a retroflex, while /tʂʰ tʂ/ are not.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association 2009

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