Examination of the grooving patterns of the Czech trill-fricative

The Czech trill-fricative, /r̝/, is typologically rare among the world's languages. The present study used electromagnetic articulography (EMA) to examine the cross-sectional morphology during the production of the trill-fricative /r̝/ compared to the plain trill /r/ and sibilant fricatives /ʃ, ʒ, s, z/. Data collected from 5 native speakers of Czech show that the coronal shape of the tongue for the trill-fricative is flat, similar to that of the plain apical trill and the post-alveolar fricatives, but different from the highly grooved alveolar fricatives. However, toward the tip of the tongue, the trill-fricative is somewhat more grooved than the posterior region. This may help facilitate frication during trilling. The results also indirectly suggest that lateral tongue bracing is important for the articulation of trills. Furthermore, contrary to some previous descriptions in the literature, /r̝/ is more similar to post-alveolars than alveolars, and exhibits /ʒ/-like articulatory characteristics.