A Proficient trilingual´s production of sibilant fricatives of Mandarin Chinese, Korean and English

The current paper presents the articulatory and acoustic analysis of the sibilant fricatives of Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Korean uttered by a proficient trilingual. The electropalatography was used to record the linguopalatal contact of the fricatives. The simulated palatograms were first given and then statistical analysis was conducted for two articulatory measures, namely, Center of Gravity and Centrality Contact index, and one acoustic measure, namely, the first moment of the fricative at the maximal linguopalatal contact. Results show that the speaker uses a common articulatory mechanism in producing dental/alveolar fricative in three languages with an exception of Korean lenis alveolar fricative for which less articulatory magnitude is applied. For post-alveolar and alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives, distinct tongue gestures are used to distinguish the two types of sibilant fricatives. The above results are inspiring in that delicate articulatory adjustments in producing sibilant fricatives can be acquired by language learners.