Articulatory setting, articulatory symmetry, and production mechanisms for Catalan consonant sequences

This study reports articulatory and acoustic data for three Catalan dialects (Eastern, Western, Valencian), showing that the sequences /tsʃ/ and /sʃ/, and /tʃs/ and /ʃs/, are implemented through analogous production mechanisms and therefore that fricative+fricative and affricate+fricative sequences behave symmetrically at the articulatory level. Analysis results also reveal a clear trend for regressive assimilation in the case of /(t)sʃ/ and for blending or a two-target realization in the case of /(t)ʃs/; differences in degree of articulatory complexity among the segmental sequences under analysis account for these production strategies. Moreover, the final phonetic outcome is strongly dependent on the dialect-dependent articulatory differences in fricative articulation; thus, in Valencian, /(t)sʃ / may undergo regressive assimilation or blending and /(t)ʃs/ regressive assimilation, owing to a more anterior lingual constriction for /ʃ/ than in the other dialects.