Practice question · Select all that apply
Which follow from the fact that speakers produce ten to fifteen sounds per second?
Hints
- Three follow from the speed; one denies the overlap that the speed requires.
- At that rate there is no time to complete one gesture before starting the next.
Show the answer
- A. Much allophonic variation is a consequence of timing
- B. Articulators must overlap rather than move one at a time
- D. Adjacent sounds influence one another's articulation
Why
The fourth is what the speed rules out. Gestures overlap heavily, which is why a vowel before a nasal is itself nasalised and why /k/ is articulated further forward in key than in car, the tongue is already preparing the following vowel.
Practise How Speech Is Produced
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More questions on How Speech Is Produced
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