Articulatory Characteristics of Geminate Plosives of Kumamoto Dialect: A Case Study Using MRI

Abstract

The present study investigates the acoustic and articulatory characteristics of voiced plosive geminates produced by a male speaker of Kumamoto dialect in Kyushu District. Two types of Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI), real-time MRI and synchronized MRI, are used for articulatory analyses. The acoustic result showed that relatively long voicing period appeared during the closure of voiced geminates. Plosive /dd/ showed voicing continuing from a preceding vowel (post-voicing) and pre-voicing of the consonant, while /gg/ showed only post-voicing. Analyses of MRI revealed that the distance between lower tongue and pharyngeal wall extended towards the end of the geminate plosives suggesting the occurrence of pharyngeal expansion. This agrees to the result of the speakers of Ikema southern Ryukyuan whose voiced geminates were voiced throughout the consonants. Thus, pharyngeal expansion is regarded to be an major articulatory manifestation to keep and excite voicing during voiced geminates.