On the phonetic implementation of syllabic consonants and vowel-less syllables in Tashlhiyt

This paper presents an acoustic and electropalatographic study of how vowel-less syllables and their constituents are phonetically implemented in Tashlhiyt Berber. Three issues are addressed. First, we determine whether the acoustic and articulatory make-up of a consonant changes as a function of its position within a syllable (C-nucleus vs. C-onset vs. C-coda). Second, we consider the patterns of articulatory coordination between consonants as a function of their position within and across the syllable. Third, we test whether nuclei consonants are produced as sequences of schwa vowels + consonants. While some differences are observed in linguopalatal articulation, position in a syllable is not found to affect the acoustic and articulatory duration of a consonant in Tashlhiyt. Interestingly, syllable organization appears to be reflected in the specifications of the coordination between consonants. Consonants in nucleus position are more stable in their coordination with flanking consonants and are less overlapped by a following consonant. In addition, our results suggest that the occurrence of a schwa-like element before a consonant depends on the laryngeal specifications of the consonants in the sequence rather than on its syllabic status.