Articulatory synergies in the temporal organization of liquid clusters in Romanian

•Articulatory timing pattern of Romanian liquid onsets and codas is investigated.•The timing pattern of complex onsets was consistent with a c-center organization.•Lateral complex codas were timed similar to clear /l/ codas in German.•Rhotic complex codas were timed similar to dark /l/ in American English.•Articulatory characteristics common to dark /l/ and trill /r/ affect measures of coda timing.

This paper investigates on the basis of Romanian EMA data from five speakers which factors may affect the timing of liquid onset and coda clusters. American English /l/-obstruent coda clusters have been shown to pattern differently from obstruent–obstruent clusters. This has been attributed to perceptual constraints influencing articulatory timing relations. However, German codas showed no such differentiation of cluster types, casting doubt on the previously proposed perceptual account. Rather, it may be the lateral's degree of velarization that determines the contrasting patterns between languages. Romanian features, like German, a clear /l/ and a rhotic alveolar trill, allowing us to probe further into the potential role of articulatory synergies by broadening the investigation to liquid clusters generally. Results show that Romanian lateral codas patterned with German, and differently from English. However, Romanian rhotics patterned with the English lateral codas, with which they share a similar tongue rear articulation. We propose that these timing patterns reflect differences in articulatory properties between the various liquid types. Results further show that onset clusters patterned similarly to other onsets in Romanian and across languages. independently of liquid type. We further discuss the interaction of cluster type differences with intra-cluster timing.