Haskins Publications

Number	682
Year	1988
Drawer	12
Entry Date	11/15/1999
Authors	Browman, C. P., & Goldstein, L.
Contact
Publication	Phonetica, 45, 140-155.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0682.pdf
Abstract	Two approaches to seeking stable patterns in the gestural organization of speech are examined: local organization (individual gestures coordinated with other individual gestures) and global organization (gestures forming larger conglomerates). Articulatory evidence from American English words with a variety of initial consonants and clusters shows that syllable-initial consonants form a global organization (indexed by a metric we term the C-center) that is coordinated with the syllable’s vowel gesture. For syllable-final consonants, however, the evidence suggests that a local organization is employed: The first postvocalic consonant gesture is coordinated with the vowel gesture. Implications of these different styles of organization for the perceptual and phonological structure of speech are discussed.
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