An Ultrasound Study of the Role of Larynx Height and Tongue Movement in the Production of Javanese Registers (Stiff-Slack Stops)

Abstract

Javanese has lost the Malayo-Polynesian voicing contrast in obstruents and replaced it with a contrast between a high and a low register that are differentiated by a bundle of phonetic properties such as VOT, f0, F1 and voice quality after the closure release. Although the acoustic properties of this register contrast are well understood, there is still some debate about its articulatory realization. In this paper, we conducted laryngeal and lingual ultrasound studies to investigate the production of Javanese registers. Results suggest that the low register is produced with a lowering of the larynx, but there is little evidence of consistent differences in tongue root or tongue body position between registers.