Phonetic properties of syllabic consonants in Slovak.

Studies on the articulatory correlates of syllable structure have shown that onset and coda consonants differ systematically in the timing and amplitude of their movements, and their temporal coordination with the vocalic syllable nucleus. Little is known, however, about consonants functioning as syllable nuclei. We present EMA data on Slovak, a language that allows the liquids /l/ and /r/ to be syllabic nuclei of CCC syllables. Phonologically, syllabic consonants behave like vocalic nuclei. We investigate the kinematic properties of syllabic consonants, and potential differences between vocalic and consonantal nuclei in their patterns of coordination with onsets and codas. Our data indicate that liquids in onset clusters are shorter than singletons (e.g., /r/ in “mrak” < “rak”), yet syllabic consonants (/r/ in “mrk”) pattern durationally with singletons. Generally, Slovak onset clusters show little or no overlap, which may result in an open transition schwa. For C1C2C3 syllables, C1-C2 show more overlap compared to an onset cluster, yet open transition schwas can still be observed (“m̂rk”). C2-C3 overlap less than C1-C2 in terms of movement onset, yet C1-C2 show a bigger plateau lag. These data contribute to our knowledge about the phonetic nature of syllabic consonants and articulatory correlates of syllable structure.