Palatometric specification of stop, affricate, and sibilant sounds.

This investigation used palatometry to study stops, sibilants, and affricates in CV syllables (C = t,d,k,g,tf,d3; V = i,a) spoken by nine normal 6- to 14-year-old children. The measures focused on place, manner, timing, and area of linguapalatal contact. Similarities and differences between the sound classes, actions across segments of the articulatory gestures, and age effects were identified and described. The affricates were observed to have stop and sibilant portions demarcated by a partial plateau in the linguapalatal contact releasing gesture. The sibilant portion was formed in the same place and with the same groove dimensions as /f,3/. The older subjects reached initial articulatory positions faster, produced the consonant sounds more quickly, generated vowels with shorter durations, and articulated more posteriorly than did younger ones.