Published Article

                                                                                   Abstract

Linguistic field work often requires describing the sounds in the language one is investigating. Static palatography involves the use of instrumental techniques to record contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth and is especially useful for determining the place of consonant articulation. This study employed the palatography technique in the description of the coronal consonants found in Nko?ro?o? an Eastern I?jo? language belonging to the Niger-Congo phylum. Two kinds of data – palatograms and linguograms, collected from two competent native speakers through this process, were used to determine the place and type of articulatory contact. Based on auditory perception alone, nine coronal consonants were investigated. The findings confirmed that [t], [d], [n], [?], [s], and [l] are produced at the alveolar place of articulation, [d?] is post alveolar, while [?] and [j] are palatal. Apart from corroborating the auditory perception of the place of consonant articulations, the records indicate that the plosives and liquids have central closure, the fricative and approximant lack central closure while nasals and the affricate have little central closure. Furthermore, visual inspection of the linguograms revealed [l] as apical, [t], [d], [n], and [?] as apico-laminal, and [s], [d?], [?], and [j] as laminal.

Keywords? Nko?ro?o?, I?jo? , Static palatography, Palatograms, and Linguograms