Jaw Movement and Coronal Stop Spectra: the case of Central Arrernte

This paper presents jaw movement data for the coronal consonants of Central Arrernte. It compares jaw movement for stops with jaw movement for nasals and laterals, across dental, alveolar, retroflex and alveo-palatal places of articulation. Results suggest that when there is a clear spectral peak for the release burst, as is the case primarily for the palatal, but also for the alveolar and retroflex, the jaw remains high at stop release; but when the spectral burst has a relatively diffuse spectrum, as is the case for the dental, the jaw begins to lower before stop release in anticipation of the following vowel. This result is interpreted as lending support for the view that the lower teeth play a role in stop burst release, similar to their role in sibilant fricative production.