How Articulatory is Phonology?

The dichotomy between “discrete” phonology and “continuous” phonetics has been contested in various ways. This talk addresses the nature of the phonetics-phonology interface from the perspective of articulatory timing.  Articulatory Phonology has sought to unify the systems by positing phonological representations that include certain phonetic details, including temporal information. However, Turk & Shattuck-Hufnagel (2020) have argued that timing patterns in language can only be explained if timing is external to the phonological system.

I present evidence from languages with lexical tone that challenges previous attempts to limit the number of coordinative timing patterns between gestures. In so doing, I argue that speech timing, while still organized around syllables, involves a broader range of coordinative structures than predicted by the Coupled Oscillator Model of syllable structure. Preliminary results from ongoing work synthesizing articulatory gestures will also be discussed. The resulting view is one in which speech timing represents a balancing act of many factors: phonological goals and intrinsic biases, but also articulatory uniformity and perceptual recoverability. 

Chris Geissler is a phonetician and phonologist working on the temporal coordination of speech and its relationship to phonology. He completed his Ph.D. in Linguistics at Yale University in 2021 with a dissertation on tone and articulatory timing in Tibetan.  After spending two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Speech, Language, and Modeling Lab at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Germany), he is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in Linguistics at Carleton College.

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