Laryngeal Adjustments in the Production of Voiceless Obstruent Clusters in Berber

Laryngeal adjustments in voiceless obstruent clusters in Tashlhiyt Berber were examined by means of simultaneous transillumination, fiberoptic films and acoustic recordings. This language allows a rich variety of voiceless clusters naturally. Several combinations of /s/ and /k/ clusters including singleton and geminate consonants were examined. We focused on the number of glottal opening gestures, the influence of manner of articulation and effects of word boundaries. Results of this study provide evidence that the manner of articulation of segments and their position in the clusters have a major impact both on the number and on the location of glottal abduction movements. Word boundaries did not influence laryngeal adjustment to the same extent.