PALATALISATION, ASSIMILATION AND GESTURAL WEAKENING IN CONNECTED SPEECH

An investigation is reported into the variation encountered in the distribution of palatalisation in consonant-clusters in Russian. EPG evidence from two speakers suggests that while the spread of palatalisation does not vary with speaking rate or style, the lingual gesture constituting palatalisation is shown to be sensitive to speech-rate, diminishing in magnitude with increased speaking rate. A similar reduction in gesture magnitude was found for coronal gestures in clusters with dental nasals. A comparison is made between the spread of palatalisation and the assimilation of place of articulation. In both cases speakers of Russian have access to phonological processes determining discrete categorical assimilations; at the same time speakers exhibit a tendency elsewhere for a lingual gesture to weaken in the circumstances of increased speaking rate. Gestures which weaken may involve articulatory subsystems of lesser mass than those in non-weakening gestures, while the phenomenon may none the less stake a claim to inclusion within the heading of ''the speaker's knowledge of how the language is pronounced'' which may be taken as a broad definition of the subject matter of phonological theory