Co-articulation between Consonant and Vowel in Cantonese and Taiwanese CVC Syllables

The present study investigates the C-V and V-C co-articulations in Cantonese and Taiwanese CVC monosyllables, where C= plosives [p t k] and V= vowels [i a u]. EMA AG500 and NDI Wave were used to record the articulatory actions of the tongue during the test syllables uttered by four male speakers, two Cantonese and two Taiwanese. Results show that the between-segment co-articulation strength (CS), which is indicated in the Euclidean distance of the tongue positions at the C-V and V-C transitions, varies with the plosive type, vowel type, and position of the plosive in the syllables. For both Cantonese and Taiwanese, the general order of decreasing CS is (i) when C=[p] > C=[k] > C=[t] and (ii) when V=[i] > V=[u] > V=[a]. A major difference between the two languages is a stronger CS between V and -C than between C- and V in Cantonese, but a stronger CS between C- and V than between V and -C in Taiwanese. The articulatory data reveal that despite the similarity in syllable structure between Cantonese and Taiwanese, the latent articulatory relationship between consonant and vowel in a syllable differ between the two languages.