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Articulatory variability during consonant production by Greek speakers with hearing impairment: an electropalatographic study

This study uses the technique of electropalatography to investigate lingualpalatal contact patterns during the production of the consonants /t, k, s, x, n, l, [symbol - see pdf]/ by four Greek speakers with profound hearing impairment and with differences in the intelligibility of their speech. The study provides a detailed description of their tongue-palate contact patterns and discusses some of the articulatory parameters that differentiate consonantal articulation between speakers with normal hearing and hearing impairment. Deviant patterns were found for the majority of consonants and involved substitutions, distortions, amd epenthesis of segments. The segments that deviated from normal for all speakers were the fricative /s/, the palatal obstruents [c] and [c¸], and the tap [[symbol - see pdf]]. Significant differences in articulatory variability during consonantal production were also found. The study discusses deviant patterns in consonant production in relation to the differences in intelligibility among the speakers and with reference to data from previous studies. The issues discussed in this study and the methodology adopted fall within the line of research carried out by Bill Hardcastle and his colleagues at QMUC over the years. His work for the development of electropalatography and his research on speech production have provided important insights into the articulatory characteristics of normal and disordered speech. This paper is dedicated to him with my best wishes for the continuation of an influential, creative and productive career in the field.