1. /r/ Place: palatal Articulatory phonetics Acoustics
Variable tongue positions
“bunched”
“retroflexed”
Allophonic Variations
Some suggest
“dark” (CV) –very low F3
“light” (VC) –F3 not as low
Acoustics
Hallmark of /r/ is a low F3
F1 ~ 350 Hz
F2 ~ 1050 Hz
F3 ~ 1550 Hz
Vowels have F3 above 2200 Hz
Vowels around /r/ are colored or
F3 values lower than usual

2. /r/
Freq (Hz)
3000 F3
2000 F2
1000 F1 V r V

3. Role of F3 transition in /w/ vs. /r/ perception

4. /r/ “coloring” of vowels
// //

5. Articulatory Variability and /r/

6. Point parameterized representation
Bunched

7. Point parameterized representation
Retroflexed

8. Between-speaker variation
“row”
“row”
JW39 tp004
JW45 tp004
Very common

9. Within-speaker variation: different context
“row”
“dorm”
JW37 tp009
JW37 tp099
Common

10. Within-speaker variation: same context
“right”
“right”
JW37 tp009
JW37 tp099
Not common, but possible!

11. N=53 normal speakers
Not just two different configurations, but a whole family of possible configuration
From Westbury et al. (1998)

12. How can these vastly different tongue configurations lead to similar acoustic/perceptual consequences?

14. Summary
There is a wide distribution of articulatory configurations for /r/
Different articulatory configurations of /r/ are indistinguishable acoustically and perceptually
Different tongue configurations can produce equivalent area functions
Some parts of the area function are more critical than others for determining key acoustic/perceptual effects

15. Clinical Digression
Clinically, /r/ is a difficult sound for children to learn.
Is there anything from our discussion that might suggest why this might be the case?