Example: Bulgarian

This example shows how three syllables were organized:

/… e t â r e …/
from the utterance
Petâr e papa

The sequence is taken from an X-ray motion film of Bulgarian speech.

The colours of each phoneme in /… e t â r e …/
correspond to the colours in the diagrams below

1. Sequence /et/ (film frames 5-12)
2. Sequence /etâ/ (film frames 12-17)
3. Sequence /tâ/ (film frames 17-24)
4. Sequence /âr/ (film frames 24-26)
5. Sequence /âre/ (film frames 26-31)

1. Sequence /et/ (film frames 5-12)

Activity for et during the e vocoid (Petâr …)

Simultaneous activity for e and t
(b) Tongue body approach for e towards the hard palate during frames 5-7.
(c) Also part of the tongue body approach for e during frames 5-7, widening the pharynx.
(c) Tongue body hold for e during frames 7-12.
(a) Tongue blade approach for t during frames 5-12, raising the tongue blade towards the alveolar ridge for t.
(a) Tongue blade hold for t during frame 12 (beginning of t occlusion).
The corresponding simultaneous movements:
Of the tongue body for e, see (b) and (c) above.
And the tongue blade for t, see (a) above.
Movements (b, c) were brief, compared with (a), the e posture being reached during the first 39ms of the e vocoid segment, the remaining 70ms being devoted to the continued tongue blade elevation for t (a).
The e posture was held until the t occlusion, palatizing the latter.

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2. Sequence /etâ/ (film frames 12-17)

Activity for e t â during the t occlusion (Petâr)

Simultaneous activity for e, t and â during the t occlusion
(a) Continued tongue blade hold for t occlusion during frames 12-17.
(b, c) Continued tongue body hold for e during frames 12-13 (b, c). Then tongue body approach for âduring frames 14-17.
 
The corresponding simultaneous movements:
The movement of the tongue body for â away from the e posture, see (c) and (b) above, while the anterior part of the tongue blade was held in position for the t occlusion (a).
This movement for â during the t occlusion meant that the t release was not palatized (frame 18, see part 3 next).

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3. Sequence /tâ/ (film frames 17-24)

Activity for t â during the first part of the â vocoid (Petâr)

Simultaneous activity for t and â during the first part of the â vocoid:
(a) Tongue blade withdrawal of t during frames 17-24.
(b) Continued tongue body approach of â during frames 17-22.
The corresponding simultaneous movements:
Tongue blade withdrawal of t from the occlusion,  see (a) above.
Tongue body approach of â into the pharynx, see (b) above.
Movement (b) was completed slightly earlier than (a).

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4. Sequence: /âr/ (film frames 24-26)

Activity for â r during the latter part of the â vocoid (Petâr)

Simultaneous activity for â and r during the latter part of the â vocoid:
(a) Tongue blade approach of r during frames 25-26.
(b) Tongue body hold of â during frames 24-26.
The corresponding simultaneous movements:
Rapid tongue blade approach with upturned tip for r, see (a) above).
The tongue body remained in position for â, see (b) above.

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5. Sequence: /âre/ (film frames 26-31)

Activity for â r e during the r constriction and the e vocoid (Petâr e)

Simultaneous activity for â, r and e during the r constriction and the first part of the e vocoid:
(c) Continued tongue body hold of â during the  r constriction frames 26-27.
(a) Tongue blade hold of r during its constriction frames 26-27.
(a) Tongue blade withdrawal of r during frames 28-31 (the first part of the e vocoid).
(c) Tongue blade withdrawal of â from frame 28 (the first part of the e vocoid). Note the long hold of the â posture right to the end of the r constriction, which was consequently not palatized for the next vowel e.
(b, c) Tongue body approach of e during frames 28-31.
 Sorry, there is no movie sequence yet.
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©Sidney Wood and SWPhonetics, 1994-2012