The articulation of Malayalam coronal stops and nasals

Abstract

The Dravidian language Malayalam has stops and nasals in seven places of articulation, but what is meant by a ‘place of articulation’ is not clear. Palatograms and linguograms, with simultaneous audio recordings, were taken of nine speakers and eight test words illustrating the four coronal stops and nasals in word-medial position. Results show that reference must be made to both the upper and lower articulators in describing the articulation of these consonants. Some of the contrasts are made solely on the basis of place of articulation on the upper articulator (e.g.dentalvs.alveolarfor some speakers) and others only on the basis of apicality (e.g.alveolarvs.palatoalveolar, both of which are articulated on the alveolar ridge for most speakers, but differ in the tongue contact). Other articulations (such asretroflex) remain maximally distinct by utilizing both parameters. Acoustic results give further evidence of overall tongue shape differences between these four segments.