title: Biomechanical modeling of English /r/ variants.
abstract: This study reports an investigation of the well-known context-dependent variation in English /r/ using a biomechanical tongue-jaw-hyoid model. The simulation results show that preferred /r/ variants require less volume displacement, relative strain, and relative muscle stress than variants that are not preferred. This study also uncovers a previously unknown mechanism in tongue biomechanics for /r/ production: Torque in the sagittal plane about the mental spine. This torque enables raising of the tongue anterior for retroflexed [Symbol: see text] by activation of hyoglossus and relaxation of anterior genioglossus. The results provide a deeper understanding of the articulatory factors that govern contextual phonetic variation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, James H. Clark Center S.221, 318 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA. stavness@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stavness
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gick
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Derrick
authors.forename: Sidney
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fels
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007568:Jaw / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*