Articulatory coordination in obstruent-sonorant clusters and syllabic consonants: data and modelling

The first of two studies in this paper (both using electromagnetic articulography) focused on onset clusters in German and French. Less overlap of C1 and C2 was found in plosive-nasal and plosive-rhotic clusters compared to plosive-laterals. Articulatory modeling was used to identify why the preferred coordination patterns are acoustically advantageous, and implications for metathesis and other diachronic processes are discussed. The second study analyzed the syllabic consonants /l/ and /r/ in Slovak. These consonants did not become kinematically more ‘vocalic’ in nuclear compared to marginal position. However, nuclear consonants preferred low-overlap coordination with the preceding consonant, compared to onset clusters and to vocalic syllables. We suggest that a low overlap setting favours the emergence of syllabic consonants.