The L~N merger in Southwestern Mandarin: An articulatory study
Published in Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 2023, 2023
Abstact: This work is an articulatory study of the l~n merger in Southwestern Mandarin. The material includes canonical /l/ and /n/ produced in word-initial position. Results from four speakers show systematically different patterns of Tongue Tip and Body EMA sensors at target for these sounds, even though no consistent difference is found in their formant values. Corresponding coronal ultrasound imaging of /l/ production exhibits both concave and convex tongue shapes within and across speakers. Comparisons of the “lateral angles” between the fitted midsagittal spline and the parasagittal EMA sensor show no significant difference between /l/ and /n/. Taken together, our results suggest that the articulatory reflex of the l~n merger could be due to ongoing loss of posture differentiation at the tongue blade. Additional language-specific features of /l/ production will also be discussed.
Recommended citation: Huang, Jing Molly, **Shibata, Kye**, Hsieh, Feng-fan, Chang, Yueh-chin, & Tiede, Mark. (2023). The L~N merger in Southwestern Mandarin: An articulatory study. In Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 2023, 1092–1096. [Equal credit given to first and second authors, listed in alphabetical order].
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