Inter-gestural Coordination in Temporal and Spatial Domains in Italian: Synchronous EPG + UTI Data

This dissertation explores the temporal coordination of articulatory gestures in various segmental conditions in Italian, by comparing onset and coda singletons as well as word-final and intervocalic consonant clusters in a Tuscan variety of Italian. Articulatory models of syllable structure assume that the coordination between the vocalic gesture and the consonantal gesture may differ in onset vs. coda and in singletons vs. clusters. Based on previous literature on different languages, we expect to find differences in the temporal coordination of singletons and clusters in Italian too. In addition, recent literature suggests that the articulatory and coarticulatory properties of the segments play an important role in determining the details of the coordination patterns, and that not all segments or segmental sequences behave in the same way as far as their gestural coordination relations are concerned. Thus, an additional aim of this work is to compare consonants with different coarticulatory properties (in the sense of modifications of C articulation in varying vocalic contexts) and seek for possible relations between coarticulation and coordination patterns. The methodology used is new. We used an original system for the acquisition, realtime synchronization and analysis of acoustic, electropalatographic (EPG) and ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) data, called SynchroLing. EPG and UTI instrumental techniques provide complementary information on, respectively, linguo-palatal contact patterns in the anterior vocal tract and midsagittal profiles of the whole tongue, including postdorsum and root. SynchroLing allows real-time inspection of contacts in the artificial palate and tongue midsagittal movements, coupled with acoustics. [...]