Tashlhiyt Berber contrasts singletons and geminates in intervocalic as well as in initial and final positions. This study presents results of an investigation of the phonetic correlates that distinguish these types of segments in these three positions. A claim has been made that Tashlhiyt Berber geminates are simple segments that are distinguished from their singleton counterparts primarily by tenseness. This proposal is not supported by our data. The examination of ten temporal and non-temporal parameters shows that consonant duration is the most systematic correlate across all types of consonants and positions, even for voiceless stops after pause. Preceding vowel duration and, to a lesser degree, amplitude of the release were also found to be significantly affected by gemination. These additional characteristics, interpreted as enhancing correlates, may be present in order to increase the perceptual distance between the two phonemic categories.

The present study is an electropalatographic and acoustic investigation of the fricatives /s, f/ and the affricates /ts, dz, tf, d[zcy ]/ based on data from five speakers of Majorcan Catalan and five speakers of Valencian Catalan. Results show that the articulatory characteristics of fricatives and affricates agree in several respects: the sounds traditionally labeled /f/ and /tf, d[zcy ]/ are alveolopalatal, and are articulated at a less anterior location, are less constricted and show more dorsopalatal contact than the alveolars /s/ and /ts, dz/; the two place categories are closer to each other in Valencian than in Majorcan. Compared to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates are more anterior and more constricted, and show less dorsopalatal contact. Data also show that closure location for /tf, d[zcy ]/ occurs at the alveolar zone, and that articulatory differences among affricates are better specified at frication than at closure. Strict homorganicity between the stop and frication components of affricates appears to hold provided that constriction location at frication is compared with place of articulation at closure offset. In comparison to voiceless affricates, voiced affricates were shorter, and exhibited a longer closure and a shorter frication period, in Majorcan; in Valencian, on the other hand, closures were shortest for /d[zcy ]/, and frication was systematically longer for voiceless vs. voiced affricates. These duration data appear to conform to a universal trend in Valencian but not in Majorcan where voiced affricates are lengthened intentionally. In both Catalan dialects, vowel duration varies inversely with the duration of the affricate and of its closure and frication components. The implications of these articulatory and duration characteristics for the interpretation of sound changes affecting affricates, i.e. place merging, lenition and devoicing, are discussed.

Different types of non-pulmonic sound production found in read and spontaneous German are described and exemplified. Stop releases driven by a glottalic airstream are found in sequences of final plosive plus glottalized vowel onset. Both ingressive and egressive velaric stop releases are considered to arise from double occlusions involving partial articulatory overlap in sequences of dorsal stop followed by an apical or bilabial stop. Certain aspects of the articulatory and aerodynamic mechanisms involved remain unclear. However, it is argued that an identification of these patterns in the acoustic record alone provides an invaluable insight into aspects of articulatory synchronization in types of spoken language, such as conversation, which are not generally amenable to the more intrusive methods of articulatory analysis.

In this paper we present a production study designed to explore the relationship between three observations which have previously been made about liquids in British English: first, that laterals have prosodically-determined ‘clear’ (syllable-initial) and ‘dark’ (syllable-final) variants; second, that some varieties of English have either clear [1] in all positions or dark [l] in all positions; third, that some varieties with clear [1] have dark [r] while some varieties with dark [1] have clear [r] (in broad phonetic transcription). We take F2 as an acoustic correlate of clearness/darkness and report on F2 variation in two representative varieties of British English, one which has clear initial [1] (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and one with dark initial [1] (Leeds). We show that Newcastle English has higher F2 frequencies in [1] than in [r] and that the reverse pattern is found in Leeds English. These patterns can also be found in adjacent unstressed vowels but not in adjacent stressed vowels. Final [1] in both varieties has a lower F2 than initial [1]. In intervocalic contexts, these F2 distinctions in the liquids are observed in iambic words for both varieties. In trochaic words they are observed for Leeds only, though the vowel effects can be observed in both varieties. We discuss some phonological consequences of these findings.

Hamont is a small town located on the north-eastern edge of the Belgian province of Limburg, on the national border with the Netherlands. It is situated about 30 km south of Eindhoven and 15 km west of Weert in the Netherlands. The town has about 13,500 inhabitants. According to Belemans, Kruijsen & Van Keymeulen (1998), the dialect of Hamont belongs to the West Limburg dialects (subclassification: Dommellands). Limburg dialects occupy a unique position among the Belgian and Dutch dialects in that their prosodic system has a lexical tone distinction, which is traditionally referred to as SLEEPTOON ‘dragging tone’ and STOOTTOON ‘push tone’. In line with recent conventions, stoottoon is referred to as Accent 1 and transcribed as superscript 1; sleeptoon is referred to as Accent 2 and is transcribed as superscript 2 (cf. Schmidt 1986).

Tera is the Hausa and English name for the Nyimatli [nimaáli] people as they call themselves, and their language. Their communities lie principally in the north and east of present-day Gombe State and in the adjoining area of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. There are approximately 100,000 people who speak the language as their mother tongue (Gordon & Grimes 2005: 175), many of whom also use Hausa as the local lingua franca; increasing numbers are trilingual as the result of the growing importance of English in commerce and education.