CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF LATERAL MISARTICULATION USING ELECTROPALATOGRAPHY

This paper reports on some preliminary aspects of a collaborative cros s-linguistic study of normal and disordered Japanese and British Engli sh speech. The investigation compares lateralised productions of /s/ w hich are abnormal in the two languages. EPG and acoustic recordings we re made of four Japanese and four British subjects. The EPG patterns w ere classified according to certain criteria, such as the presence or absence of complete constriction between the tongue and the hard palat e, and the area and location of this contact. Findings revealed that l ateralised articulations varied between individual speakers, but that Japanese and English productions were broadly similar. Acoustically, m isarticulations in both languages were characterised by a lower freque ncy of peak energy than would be expected in normal productions.