Cross-Linguistic Study of Advanced Tongueroot

The phonetic mechanism underlying the feature advanced tongueroot was investigated from radiographic and acoustic data in a wide variety of languages. As a measure of an independent gesture of advancing the tongueroot we took the ratio between pharynx-width at the tongueroot and tongue-height. Depression of the larynx and the hyoid bone accompanies the gesture of advanced tongueroot. As expected this results acoustically in the first formant being lowered and the second formant being raised for front vowels and lowered for back vowels. Results based on one speaker of Twi and one speaker of Ateso show that the two harmonizing vowel-sets in these languages are best accounted for by a feature of advanced tongueroot. Results from a cineradiographic study of American vowels do not entirely support the feature advanced tongueroot in English phonology. The speakers distinguish “tense” and “lax” vowels by different phonetic mechanisms. The same speaker may even distinguish “tense” and “lax” vowels differently for front and back vowels. Data from other languages, including Dho-Luo, German, and Swedish were also analyzed with respect to the gesture of advancing the tongueroot.