The Organization of Segment-internal Gestures

Some theories of the coordination of speech gestures maintain that higher-level phonological categories such as the segment are not needed for the description of observed timing patterns. Likewise, few theories of phonology make substantial reference to gestures. The present paper examines evidence of timing stability between gestures within traditional segmental units. Specifically, relative timing of gestures internal to American English /m/ and /l/ are considered in post-vocalic clusters. Intrasegmental gestural coordination patterns have been relatively well documented in immediately postvocalic, word-final position. However, the question of whether these patterns remain stable when these segments are preceded or followed by additional material has not been answered. Articulometer data are provided for American English /l/. Results indicate that although traditional segments indeed show distinct patterns of internal coordination, surrounding segmental material nevertheless has a significant and patterned effect on this coordination. A resulting model for segment-internal and -external gestural organization is proposed.