Gestural overlap within word medial stop-stop sequences in Moroccan Arabic

This paper deals with the factors behind temporal overlap differences in word medial [bd, db, bg, gb, gd, dg] clusters produced by speakers of Moroccan Arabic (MA). It is argued that certain overlap differences in these MA clusters are related to motor constraints. Specifically, these differences can be attributed to intrinsic physiological properties of the main articulator of each consonant or to constraints in coordinating adjacent consonants due to (presence or absence of) the biomechanical linkage of their articulators. The reported effects weaken the explanatory power of the previously proposed perceptual basis for the place order effect.