Three-dimensional tongue shapes of /r/ production in American English words

A number of studies have shown that /r/ production in American English involves complex tongue shapes. Previous 3D imaging studies, however, have been limited to sustained (static) /r/ sounds produced in supine position. Since supine versus upright posture and static versus dynamic speech production influences the shape of the tongue, it is unclear to what degree previous findings of three-dimensional tongue shapes are generalizable to /r/ sounds produced dynamically and with upright posture. This study presents upright-posture 3D tongue shapes of dynamically produced /r/ sounds from words embedded in a carrier phrase. Twenty young adult native speakers of American English participated in the study (10 males and 10 females), and analyses are ongoing.