Results suggested that normally developing children learn to perceive approximant consonant contrasts prior to three years of age. However, some but not all articulation-delayed three-year-old children may still make errors in the perception of approximants. (Author/CL)

A study of electromyographic (EMG) activity and palatal movement is reported. Motion pictures were taken of the nasal surface of the soft palate and EMG recordings from the levator palatini muscle were obtained. Both were analyzed for the relationship of velar height to EMG strength and time. (SC)

Spectral compositions of voiced initial stops reveal that these consonants are longer in intensity than those in medial or final position. In final stops the vocal cords are more closed than they are in initial stops and oscillation is richer. (SC)

Sentences were read by six informants to determine the presence or absence of /n/ in /nth/ sequences. The sentences contained seven different levels of juncture with /nth/ occurring in word final position, intervocalically, and across word boundaries, among other places. Dental coarticulation was not hindered by most junctures. (SC)

The salience of voiced onset time (VOT) as a voicing cue for initial stop-vowel units is examined. VOT duration was altered. Findings did not indicate that changes in VOT duration altered the perception of voicing. Aspiration more than VOT seems to be more important in the detection of voicing. (SC)

A pneumotachographic investigation of intervocalic /p/, /t/ and /k/ was undertaken to isolate physiological parameters responsible for coarticulatory air-flow phenomena. Airflow was most sensitive during the /k/ closure phase. The dynamics of the closure phase for each place of articulation and their implications for pneumotachography are…

Reports on research into perceptuo-motor control in a converse experimental situation, in which subjects were required to utter a repetitive sequence of syllables immediately prior to identifying syllables presented auditorily. Results support the notion of a unitary mechanism that processes information about certain consonant features during…

The reappearance of an old controversy on how best to analyze the Russian palatalized consonants prompts the author of this article to define the words "palatalization" and "palatal." Contrastive examples clarify phonetic terminology including the classifications of "labial voiced and voiceless palatalized stops,""labial voiced and voiceless…

This article describes a technique used to monitor the action of the upper front surface of the soft palate during normal speech in French. Results tend to confirm the findings of other instrumental phonetic research, and contradict some theoretical claims of French phonology. (CLK)