Phonetic variation in Italian consonant gemination
This paper presents findings on the articulatory and prosodic conditioning of Italian (lexical and post-lexical) geminate and non-geminate consonants. Phonetic and phonological prominence interact, resulting in a durational contrast which is not uniformly robust. So-called 'inherent' gemin...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2005
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| Summary: | This paper presents findings on the articulatory and prosodic conditioning of Italian (lexical and post-lexical) geminate and non-geminate consonants. Phonetic and phonological prominence interact, resulting in a durational contrast which is not uniformly robust. So-called 'inherent' geminates are also found to be long post-consonantally, contrary to received wisdom, and do not form 'supergeminates' in conditions of postlexical gemination. Formant analysis of laterals reveals possible non-durational properties of gemination, with evidence for a more palatalised tongue configuration in geminates. Implications for the structural status of gemination are discussed. |
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