Gemination in Tarifit Berber: X-RAY AND ACOUSTIC DATA

International audience This investigation reports on gemination in Tarifit,
a variety of Berber language spoken in the North
Eastern region of Morocco. It presents results of a
simultaneous X-ray and acoustic investigation of
singleton and geminate voiced and voiceless stops in
three different word positions (initial, intervocalic,
and final.) The acoustic parameters examined show
that geminates are systematically produced with a
longer closure duration than their singleton
counterparts, regardless of the position of the
geminate stops within the word. Consonantal
gemination, however, does not affect the duration of
adjacent vowels, neither does it affect the duration of
VOT (including burst-release for voiced stops).
Concerning X-ray data, measurements obtained from
sagittal profiles show that contact-extents (maximum
value for contact) are longer for geminate consonants
than for their singleton counterparts. Interestingly,
this holds true even for voiceless stops in word-initial
position.