Advanced Tongue Root

Vowel height in Bengali has been analysed under the linear generative model and supported by vowel height assimilation as a process. However, there have been comparatively less studies regarding the articulatory nuances and natural phonetic processes, as well as those considerations under Tripura Bangla. Vowel raising, in phonology and phonetics, is a change in the sound where a vowel or a consonant assumes a higher or a closer position to the roof of the mouth. In Standard Colloquial Bengali, the feature of height increase in vowels have been noticed in tense mid vowels like /o/ or /e/, where they become [u] or [i] respectively. Patribhushan Sarkar, in his thesis, presents the argument from the perspective of generative phonology, suggesting a synchronic Vowel Height Assimilation rule to account for the raising of Bengali mid vowels (tense and lax) like /e, o, ɔ, ɛ/, respectively to [i], [u], [o] and [e], specifically whenever the following consonant or consonant cluster is succeeded by a high vowel /i/ or /u/. A closer look into the Advanced Tongue Root (ATR) modelling and metaphonic analysis suggests that for speakers of Tripura Bangla, there exists a carry-over effect from the native language where such constructions are not completely guided by the aforementioned phenomena.

This paper presents the results of an acoustic and articulatory investigation of Advanced Tongue Root (ATR) in Lopit, an Eastern Nilotic language. As a phonological feature, ATR is widely attested in African vowel systems, and is held to correlate with tongue root advancement as a corollary of pharyngeal expansion. In the limited descriptive work on Lopit, there are different views on the presence and nature of such a contrast. Acoustic results indicate that Lopit has a 9-vowel system with an ATR-type contrast. Pilot ultrasound results suggest that the gestural correlate of the contrast is one of tongue root advancement.