Articulatory dynamics of lips in italian /'VpV/ and /'VbV/ sequences

This research focuses on the study of upper and lower lip movements in the production of the Italian bilabial stop (v/ and /b/ in different vowel contexts. The lip movernents were recorded and analysed with the ELITE system. The spatial and temporal characteristics (duration, displacement and velocity) of the symnaetric /'VCV/ sequences, where C = (p, b/ and V=/a, i, u/, were aizalysed. The data show thaf the main effects of the voiced-voiceless contrast on the bilabial closure movement are a greater degree of lip compression and a greater closure velocity for /p/ than /b/. The effect of the flanking vowels is evident in the different closure duration of the upper and lower lips and in the different closure velociiy of the lower lip. Moreover, the time interval between the peak velociby and the peak closure is not affected by neither the voiced-voiceless contrast nor by the vowel context.