The Aeroacoustics of Nasalized Fricatives

Understanding the relationship of aerodynamic laws to
the unique geometry of the human vocal tract allows
us to make phonological and typological predictions
about speech sounds typified by particular
aerodynamic regimes. Some have argued that the
realization of nasalized fricatives is improbable
because fricatives and nasals have antagonistic
aerodynamic specifications. Fricatives require high
pressure behind the supralaryngeal
constriction as a precondition for high particle
velocity. Nasalization, on the other hand, vents back
pressure by allowing air to escape through the
velopharyngeal orifice. This implies that an open
velopharyngeal port will reduce oral particle
velocity, thereby extinguishing frication. By using a
mechanical model of the vocal tract and spoken
fricatives that have undergone coarticulatory
nasalization, it is shown that nasalization must
alter the spectral characteristics of fricatives. It
is hypothesized that nasalization generally has a
deleterious effect on the acoustic distinctiveness of
fricatives, explaining the typological rarity of
nasalized fricatives.

Autorentext
Ryan Shosted (Ph.D. UC Berkeley, 2006) is Assistant Professor of
Linguistics and Director of the Phonetics & Phonology Laboratory
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research in
experimental phonetics and phonology focuses on the ways that
phonetic principles shape phonological, typological, and
diachronic outcomes in language.