An Analysis Of The Bidirectional Coarticulatory Effect In The VCV Sequences In Chinese

The vowel-consonant-vowel carry-over and anticipatory coarticulatory effect in the VCV sequences is investigated, and it is found that, due to long temporal separation between vowels for the aspirated stops, carry-over coarticulation extent in the aspirated stop contexts is small. Aspiration is a prominent factor in blocking coarticulation effect. Regarding the main effect of place of articulation, carry-over coarticulation extent of labial exceeds alveolar in fixed vowel contexts of/i/. But the interactive effect of place of articulation and fixed vowel context is stronger than the effect of place of articulation. As to anticipatory coarticulatory effect, the coarticulation extent predominats in the aspirated stop contexts, compared with that in unaspirated stop contexts. Because the aspirated consonants are strong, and the C2V2 sequence can exert a greater anticipatory effect on V₁. On the contrary, the unaspirated consonants are weak, and the C2V2 sequence has only small effects on V₁. With respect to the main effect of place of articulation, anticipatory effect for labial stops exceeds that for alveolar stops in/a/and /i/ fixed vowel contexts. However, in/μ/fixed vowel contexts, a opposite result is shown. When considered comprehensively, coarticulation direction plays an important role in coarticulatory effect, that is, carry-over effect exceeds anticipatory effect. Aspiration also has some influence on coarticulation, that is, the coarticulation extent is stronger for unaspirated stops than for aspirated stops. But the significance level is low. As for the effect of place of articulation, coarticulation extent of labial exceeds alveolar in fixed vowel contexts of/a/and/i/. And in/μ/ contexts, the result is the opposite.