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100 words.

Nonlinearity, chaos, and the sound of shallow gongs

K.A. Legge
Department
ofPhysics,
University
ofNewEngland,Arm/dale,NSW2351,Australia
N.H. Fletcher a•
Acoustics
and V/brat/onCentre,AustralianDefenceForceAcademy,Camœbe//,
ACT2dO1,Australia

(Received13January1989;acceptedfor publication30 June1989)

Experimental studieson severalorchestralgongsof thetamtamandcymbalfamiliessuggest
that two separatenonlinearmechanisms contributeto the evolutionof the sound.The first
mechanism is an upwardcascade of energyfrom the low-frequency modesinitiallyexcitedinto
high-frequency modes,causedby couplingbetweentensionandshearstresses at regionsof
sharpchangein shapeof thegong.The second is a transitionfromsimpleperiodicnonlinear
modalmotionto multiplefractionalsubharmonics, or evenchaoticmotion,whichfillsout the
radiatedspectrumat frequencies betweenthoseof the normallinearmodes.Eachof these
mechanisms hasconsiderable hysteresis,sothat the spectrumof the radiatedsoundevolves
overa periodof severalseconds. Measurements usinghigh-levelsinusoidal excitationhave
elucidated some of the features of this behavior.

PACS numbers:43.75.Kk, 43.40.Ey

INTRODUCTION simplergong(the Turkishgongdescribed later) at itscenter

For sometime, we have been interestedin the unusual
acoustics
of thelargeorchestral
gong,or Chinese
tamtam.
•
The soundbeginswith a dull, low-frequencythump which
then, over a time of about 1 s, blossomsinto a bright shim-
mering high-frequencywideband blaze of sound, dying
awayoveraslongas 10s. It might,perhaps,besupposedthat
the soundis of wide bandwidthfrom the beginning,with the
upperpartialsinitiallymaskedbytheverylargeamplitudeof
the lower modes.Analysisof the soundestablishes clearly,
however,that there is a slowbuildupand decayof radiated
energyin the higherpartialsof the sound,while the energy
radiatedby the lower modessimplydecays.This is shown
quantitativelyin the two spectraof Fig. 1, the firstof which
refersto the soundimmediatelyafter the strike, and the sec-
ond to the sound about 3 s later.
Detailed time-resolvedanalysisof the spectrumof the
radiated sound,or of the vibrationsof the gong itself, has
provedextremelydifficultbecause of the closespacingof the
spectralpeaks.Thisleadsto a beatingbehaviorin an analysis
of moderately
narrowbandwidth( 10or 50 Hz), • (Ref. 1),
while a time-resolvedanalysisat smaller bandwidth shows
that individualpeaksshift in frequencyaswell asin ampli-
tude during the evolution of the sound. A comparison
between the mechanical admittance of a geometrically
a•Permanentaddress:ResearchSchoolof PhysicalSciences,Australian
NationalUniversity,Canberra,ACT 2601,Australia.(N.H.F. is a mem-
ber of the staffof the Division of Radiophysics,CSIRO Australia.)
and the spectrumof its radiatedsoundwhen struckin the
center with a soft beater reveals that the sound contains a
closerdistributionof spectralpeaksthan doesthe linear
modespectrum.This observationcouldperhapsbe account-
ed for by incidental excitation of nonaxially symmetric
modes,but it is not clearthat this is the wholeexplanation.
As a resultof further studies,we are now able to report
experimentaland theoreticalresultsthat throw somelight
upon the phenomenaresponsiblefor the characteristic
soundof gongsof this type,and perhapsof orchestralcym-
bals as well. It seemsto us to be worthwhile to report these
resultsnow, sincea detailedunderstandingwill probablynot
comerapidly.
I. GONGS AND CYMBALS
Gongsand cymbalsexhibitingthe effectsin which we
are interested--which meansthat we eliminate those gongs
that are more nearlybells--all havemore or lessthe form of
shallowaxially symmetricshells.The orchestralgong, or
Chinesetamtam, which showsthe effectsin the most pro-
nouncedmanner,is showndiagrammaticallyin Fig. 2 (a). It
is a very nearly flat shell, 1-2 mm in thicknessand about a
meter in diameter, which is stiflenedby a rolled-down cir-
cumferentialring, a seriesof rings of hammeredisolated
bumps,and a centralstrikingdome.It is not immediately
clear to what extent these details contribute to the vibration-
al behavior,but observationshowsthat the energyinitially

2439 J. Acoust.Soc. Am. 86(6), Dec. !989 0001-4966/89/122439-05500.80 @ 1989 AcousticalSocietyof America 2439

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 wayasto exciteedgevibrations,whileothersimilarcymbals
(a)
may be strucknear their edgeswith hard sticks.In normal
playing,the cymbalis supportedat its center,sothat cffcu-
larly symmetricmodesarenot largelyexcited.It is,however,
thesemodeswith which this report is concerned,sothat all
our measurementswere designedto excite and detectonly
the axially symmetricmodes.
We have framed our discussion in terms of nonlinear
couplingbetweenmodesthat areessentially thoseassociated
-80
10
with theordinarysmall-amplitude linearbehaviorof thesys-
tem. This approachis justifiedbecausethe nonlinearityis
smallenoughthat, at leastup to the onsetof chaoticbehav-
(b) ior, thesemodescontinueto be identifiable,althoughtheir
frequenciesmaybeshiftedandtheymaybeaccompanied by
harmonicsof their normal frequencies. The nonlinearityis,
--• -zlO in all cases,associatedwith geometricaldistortionsof the
structurerather than with elasticnonlinearityof the materi-
als from which it is made.

-80
0 5 10
Frequency (kHz)
FIG. 1. Frequencyspectraof the radiatedsoundfrom a Chinesetamtam
(a) immediatelyafter the strikeand (b) after a delayof about 3 s. The
reference
levelis arbitrary,but thesamefor bothplots.
impartedto circularlysymmetriclow-frequencymodes,by
strikingthe centraldomewith a largesofthammer,is pro-
gressivelytransferredto modeshavingtheir maximum vi-
brationalamplitudesnearthe peripheryof the gong.
The largeTurkish gong,madeby AvedisZildjian and
shownin Fig. 2(b), is of muchsimplergeometry,but shows
much the samevibrationalphenomena.It is about60 cm in
overalldiameterand consistsof a shallowlydishedspheri-
cal-capshellsurrounded by a wideconicalflange.The shell
materialisbronzeabout2 mm in thickness, andthedepthof
thedishisabout5 mm.The wholegongisheavyandrelative-
ly rigid,andthestrikinghammeris heavyandonlymodera-
tely soft.Observationshowsthat vibrationis largelycon-
finedto the centralspherical-cap shell,asis to be expected
giventhestiffness
of a conical-shell
flange.2
Finally,the cymbal,shownin Fig. 2(c), is againessen-
tially a spherical-cap
shell,1-2 mm in thicknessand with a
depthofabout15mm,in thecenterofwhichisa moredeeply
curvedandsomewhatthickerdome.In playing,sucha cym-
bal is usuallyclashedagainstan identicalpartnerin sucha
• (b) • other hand, destroythe circular symmetryand providea
FIG. 2. Crosssections
of (a) the Chinesetamtam,(b) theTurkishgong,
and (c) theorchestral
cymbal,referredto in thisstudy.The diagrams
are
only approximatelyto scale.
II. MODE COUPLING
Becauseof the complicatedgeometryof theseinstru-
ments,we initially carried out studieson simplersystems,
with geometrysimilarto that of a crosssectionof a gong,in
order to examinephenomenathat might contributeto the
soundproduced.In particular, we showedthat, both in the
caseof a taut stringpassingat an angleovera bridgeof finite
compliance3andin thecaseofa thinbarwithtwosymmetri-
callyplacedkinks,4 thereis a nonlinearcouplingwhichal-
lows energyto be transferredfrom one mode to others at
frequenciestwo or three timesthat of the originalmode.
Our experimentsin thesetwo casesdemonstratedthat,
if the stringwasinitially excitedsothat the secondor third
modehad nearlyzero amplitude,thenthe amplitudeof this
modegrewto a maximum after a time of about0.1 sand then
decayed.The maximum amplitudeof the initially missing
modevariedaseitherthe secondor third power,respective-
ly, of the initial amplitudeof the fundamental,thoughits
maximumamplitudewasalwayssmall.If the dimensionsof
thebar werechosensothat two modeshad frequencies near-
ly in the ratio 2:1, then similar effectscould be clearly ob-
served.
The theoryunderlyingtheseprocesses TMshowsthatwe
may expectthem to be presentalsoin shellshavingsharp
changesin slope,andperhapsunderotherconditionsaswell,
andthusprovidesthe beginningof an understanding of the
mode-conversion process.In the caseof the Turkish gong,
theshellhascircularsymmetry,sotherecanbeno coupling
betweencircularly symmetricand angularly dependent
modes.The ringsof hammeredbumpson the tamtam,onthe
mechanismby which circularlysymmetricmodescan cou-
ple to modeshavingthe angularsymmetryof the bump
tings.This mode-conversion mechanism thusappearsto be
importantin the generationof somefeaturesof the charac-
teristic sound of gongs.,particularly the high-frequency
"sheen"which developsin the later part of the sound.

2440 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 86, No. 6, December 1989 Letters to the Editor 2440

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 III. VIBRATION OF SPHERICAL-CAPSHELLS
Rossing
andFletcher
5 haveexamined
someaspects
of
the roleof curvaturein the vibrationalbehaviorof spherical-
cap shells,concentratingon shiftsin the normal-modefre-
quencieswith amplitudewhichwerelater explainedin detail
by Fletcher.
6 Our presentinterestis in rathermoregeneral
aspectsof the behavior.Again, we havetried to simplifythe
problemby concentratingon individualmodesand their in-
teractions.
Perhapsthe mostimportantobservations we havemade
in relationto this problemarosefrom measurements of the
responseof the Turkish gong,and later of the orchestral
cymbal,to a sinusoidalforce appliedat its center (using a
Bruel& Kjaer shaker,model4810, and eitheran impedance
head, model 8001, or a subminiature accelerometer, model
4374). This initially gaveinformationon the frequencyof
the axially symmetricmodesand showedthat their distribu-
tion in frequencywaslessdensethan the observeddensityof
spectralpeaksin the analyzedlarge-amplitudesoundof the
gong,as we have already remarked.The first axially sym-
metric shell resonancewas found at 96 Hz, close to the fre-
quencyexpectedfrom an approximatetheorydevelopedby
Fletcher,
6 with higherresonances
near200, 416, 664, and
992 Hz. Most of theseresonances had smallsatellitepeaks,
the origin of which wasnot elucidated.
In examining the individual resonancesfor nonlinear
behaviorat relativelylargeexcitingforces,however,we dis-
coverednot simply a frequencyshift but, instead,a cata-
strophicchangein behavior.At a critical amplitude,and
overa very smallfrequencyrangenearthe admittancepeak,
the periodicmotion of the gongsuddenlydevelopedlarge-
amplitudesubharmoniccomponents.The behaviorwascri-
tically dependenton the frequency,amplitude,and immedi-
ate historyof the excitation,but subharmonicsof orders2, 3,
and 4 wereeasilyevoked.Associatedwith thesesubharmon-
ics were all multiples of their frequencies.Sometimesthe
numberof peakson the spectrumwas so large that unam-
biguousassignmentof fractionalfrequencieswasnot possi-
ble, and sincethe unresolvedbackgroundintensitywasalso
large,the motion might reasonablybe describedas chaotic.
Subjectivelyl
theSound
produced
bythegongwhenvibrat-
,
ing in one of thesemultiple-subharmonic modeswas very
similar to the fully developedafter-ringof the gongwhen
excitedby a vigorousblow. The orchestralcymbal, when
excitedat its center,exhibitedvery similar behavior.
•..
Displacement
FIG. 3. Measuredorbit in (displacement,
velocity)phasespacefor theTur-
kish gongin a vibrationregime-showing bifurcationto a subharmonicof
order2. The excitationfrequencyis 91 Hz.
2441 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 86, No. 6, December 1989
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Further insightinto this phenomenonwasobtainedby
measuringboth the velocityand displacementof the center
of the gong.The velocitywasobtainedby integratingthe
signalfrom a subminiature accelerometer
(B&K type4374)
mounted
onthegong,
whilethedisplacement
signal
wasob-
tainedfrom.a capacitive
transducer
(B&K typeMM0004)
placedcloseto the gongsurface.As a precaution,the gong
wasdriventhrougha compliantspring,rather than directly
by theshaker,sothat itsbehaviorwouldnotbeinfluencedby
the nonzeromechanicalimpedanceof that device.Figure 3
showsthe orbit in phasespace(displacement,velocity) of
thecharacteristic pointrepresenting thecenterof thegongin
a regimein which the subharmonicof order 2 hasjust be-
comelarge.The basicorbit hasa complexform, rather than
beinga simpleellipse,thusreflectingthe presenceof strong
harmonicsor order 2, 3, and higher.The orbit has,in addi-
tion, split into two, reflectingthe presenceof a strongsub-
harmonic of order 2. The thickness of the traces for these two
individual orbit componentssuggestsfurther small-scale
splitting,but this effectmay be causedsimplyby motion of
the gongasa wholeon its supports.
A further study was made by strobingthe intensityof
the oscilloscope beam oncein each cycle of the force, at a
definedphase,thusproducinga Poincar6mapof the motion.
For a simpleorbit, this map consistsof a singlepoint, while
the map of the bifurcatedorbit of Fig. 3 producesa pair of
points.Mapswith threepointswereproducedin othercases,
while, for a higher forcing amplitude, the map sometimes
degeneratedto a widely spreadclusterof closelyspaced
points.This is indicativeof chaoticbehavior,and we might
expectthe Poincar6map to exhibit the fine structureasso-
ciatedwith a strangeattractor.Our mapsdid not showany
suchstructure,but thiscanperhapsbeattributedto the pres-
enceof other unrelatedsmallmotions,suchasthe swinging
of the gongon its supports.
Figure4 showsthe regionof (force,frequency)spacein
which varioustypesof behaviorwere found for the gong.
Eachregimeofsubharmonicor chaoticbehavioris narrowly
definedin frequencyand lies closeto one of the primary
linearadmittancemaximaof the gong,sothat the vibrations
in eachregimeare essentiallyindependentand of different
spatial
distributic•n.
Thisclose
correspondence
withthead-
mittance maxima is consistentwith the view, which we ex-
plorelater, that thebifurcationandchaoticbehaviorisbetter
consideredto be associatedwith large vibrational ampli-
tudesrather than with largeforces,althoughthe two quanti-
ties are clearly closely related. The maximum amplitude
achievedin the figure is lessthan 2 mm, which is only a
quarter of the heightof the shell.In the caseof the cymbal,
subharmonicbehaviorwasobservedfor amplitudesaround
1 mm, which is an evensmallerfractionof the shellheight.
Explorationof thesephenomenashowedalsothat there
was considerablehysteresisassociatedwith the oxisetof the
subharmonicregime.Transition from the normal regime,
oncea powerlevelhadbeensetfor the excitation,couldtake
aslongasseveralseconds,and the regimethen persistedfor
many secondsif the excitation was reduced or even set to
zero.
Clearly, a well-developedmultiple-subharmonicvibra-
Letters to the Editor 2441
 8 forthekinkedbar,4thenthisdescribes
thecoupling
anden-
ergytransferbetweenmodes.It mustbe admitted,however,
that the explicit forms of the y coefficientshave not been
worked out for the shell.
If we takeF(t) = F sin(cot),then ( 1) representsthebe-
havior of a singlemodeof the shellundera sinusoidalexcit-
ing force,whencouplingto other modesis neglected.This is
a first approximationto our experimentalsituation.With
this assumption,(1) is essentiallythe well-knownDuffing
equation,with an addedterm quadraticin x. The behaviorof
thisequationhasbeenstudiedextensively,from both analy-
tical andnumericalviewpoints,andit is knownthat it exhib-
180 182 184 190 192
its harmonicdistortion,bifurcationleadingto generationof
Forcingfrequency(Hz) subharmonics of variousorders,and chaoticbehavior.7-•ø
FIG. 4. Plot of the regionsin (frequi•ncy,force) spacefor whichcomplex This suggests the origin of the bifurcationand chaotic
behaviorwas found for the Turkish gong.The excitationfrequencyis, in
eachcase,closeto oneof the major admittancemaxima,near96 and 200 Hz,
behavioron which we have reported.There is, however,a
respectively. problem,sinceboth the genera/1 literature,and our own nu-
merical explorationsof (1), suggestthat chaoticbehavior
tion regimeis capableof producingmany of the observed occursonly when the amplitudeof the modevibrationap-
acousticphenomenaassociatedwith the gong sound,par- proachesthe heightof the shellarch,whilewe haveobserved
ticularly if subharmonicsassociatedwith more than one thesephenomenafor amplitudesaboutan order of magni-
gongmodeareexcited.It seemsplausiblethat a large-ampli- tude lessthan this. Certainly, however,the phenomenaare
tude impulsiveexcitationwith a soft-headedhammercould much more pronouncedin the tamtam, which has a very
take the vibrationamplitudeof severalof the low-frequency small curvature, than in the more deeply dished gongs,
axiallysymmetricmodesto valuesabovethosenecessary for which is in generalagreementwith expectations.We have
generationof subharmonics and thus producethe observed not yet seena way out of this problem.It couldbe that the
rich and denseacousticspectrum. presenceof couplingbetweenmodes,of the form givenin
(2), accountsfor the greatersensitivityof the system,but we
have no evidence for this.
IV. THEORY
It is perhapssignificantthat impulsiveexcitationof a
Elsewhere
5'6we havediscussed
certainaspects
of the low-frequencymodeto large amplitude,asin normal strik-
axially symmetricvibrationof spherical-capshells.In par- ing of the gong, can generate,through terms of the form
ticular, we have shownthat the inherent nonlinearitygives givenin (2), sinusoidalexcitingforcesat frequencieswhich
riseto changes
of modefrequency
with amplitude.
6 If the may be closeto those of other normal modesof the shell.
thicknessof theshellisgreaterthanabouttwicetheheightof Thesemodesare then driven asthoughby an externalsinu-
the arch of the shell, then the mode frequencyriseswith soidalforce of definedfrequencyand phase,and can be ex-
increasingamplitude,while, if the shellthicknessis small, pectedto exhibit bifurcationand chaoticbehaviorif the
the modefrequencyinitially fallswith increasingamplitude. forceamplitudeis largeenough.This givesa qualitativeex-
This analysisexplainsthe frequencyshiftsobservedfor the planationof the similarityof soundqualitybetweena nor-
modesof the gongsstudied,but this is only a minor part of mally struck gong and the samegongexcitedsinusoidally
the situation.
into its chaoticregime.
As we have discussedelsewhere, 6 the behaviorof the
modedisplacement x, associatedwith the nth axisymmetric V. CONCLUSIONS
modeof a shallowsphericalshellcan be describedapproxi-
mately by an equationof the form This studydoesnot yet presenta completeunderstand-
ing of the processesleadingto the characteristicsoundof
d2x• dx• cymbal-likegongs.However, we have demonstratedthat
2(x" + 2
dt.
2 + 2k,dt +co, a,x,+13,
x3,
) =F,(t), therearetwo majorprocesses occurring.The firstof theseis
(1) frequencymultiplicationdue to couplingbetweentensional
whereco,is the small-amplitudemodefrequency,k, repre- andshearstresses andleadingto the transferof energyfrom
sentsthemodedamping,andF, isthe appliedforce,proper- low- to high-frequencymodes,aftera characteristic time de-
ly weightedfor modeshape.The parametersa, and/3, can lay. The secondis the splittingof major vibrationalmodes
beexpressed in termsof shelldiameter,curvature,andthick- into componentshaving fractional frequencyratios, and
even into chaotic vibrations. This effect, also with a charac-
ness.
6Thisequation
withF = 0, properlydescribes
theshift
of vibrationfrequencywith modeamplitude.IfFis takento teristicinductiontime and hysteresisbehavior,transfersen-
be a combinationof termsof the type ergyfrom majormodesto their subharmonics andis respon-
sible for the observedclose spacing of peaks in the
Y,.iik...XiX•Xk''
'sin(coiq-% q- cok'"), (2) low-frequencyspectrumof the radiatedsound.Together,
with coefficients
y determinedby the geometryof the shell, thesetwo mechanisms contributean unmatchedcomplexity
andparticularlyby any abruptchangesof slope,asdiscussed to the soundof thesepercussioninstruments.

2442 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 86, No. 6, December 1989 Letters to the Editor 2442

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 tT. D. Rossing
andN.H. Fletcher,"Acoustics
of a tamtam,"Bull.Aust. 6N.H.'Fletcher,"Nonlinear
frequency
shiftsin quasispherical-cap
shells:
Acoust. Soc. 10, 21-26 (1982). Pitchglidein Chinesegongs,"J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 78, 2069-2073 (1985).
u.
2N. H. Fletcher,"Axisymmetric
wavepropagation
on a conicalshell,"J. 7N. Minorsky,NonlinearVibrations (Van Nostrand,Pnnceton,1962).
Acoust. Soc. Am. 72, 250-254 (1982). By.Ueda,"Randomlytransitional phenomena in thesystem'governedby
3K.A. LeggeandN.H. Fletcher,
"Nonlinear
generation
ofmissing
modes Duffing'sequation,"J. Stat. Phys.20, 181-196 (1979).
on a vibratingstring," J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 76, 5-12 (1984). 9p.Cvitanovic,
Universality
in Chaos--areprintselection
( Hilger,Bristol,
4K.A. LeggeandN.H. Fletcher,"Nonlinear
modecoupling
in symmetri- 1984).
cally kinked bars," J. SoundVib. 118, 23-34 (1987). •øF.C. Moon,ChaoticVibrations:An
Introduction
forApplied
Scientists
and
ST.D. Rossing
andN.H. Fletcher,"Nonlinearvibrations
in platesand Engineers(Wiley, New York, 1987).
gongs,"J. Acoust.Soc.Am 73, 345-351 (1983). '

Determining the extent of coarticulation: Effects of experimental

design
Carole E. Gelfer
WilliamPatersonCollege,Wayne,NewJersey07470andHaskinsLaboratories,
New Haven, Connecticut 06511

Fredericka BelI-Berti
St. John'sUniversity,Jamaica,New York 11439and HaskinsLaboratories,New Haven,
Connecticut O6511

Katherine S. Harris
City ,University
o/New YorkGraduateSchool,New York,New York 10036andHaskinsLaboratories,
New Haven, Connecticut 06511

(Received13June1988;acceptedfor publication8 August1989)

The purposeof this letter is to exploresomereasonsfor what appearto be conflictingreports
regardingthe natureandextentof anticipatorycoarticulation,in general,and anticipatorylip
rounding,
in particular.
Analyses
oflabialelectromyographic
andkinematic
datausinga
minimal-pair paradigmallowedfor the differentiationof consonantaland vocaliceffects,
supportinga frame versusa feature-spreading modelof coarticulation.It is believedthat the
apparentconflictsof previousstudiesof anticipatorycoarticulationmight be resolvedif
experimentaldesignmademoreuseof contrastiveminimalpairsand reliedlesson assumptions
aboutfeaturespecifications
of phones.
PACS numbers:43.70.Bk, 43.70.Aj

The purposeof this letter is to exploresomereasonsfor
what appearto be conflictingreportsof the nature and ex-
tent of anticipatorycoarticulation(Kozhevnikov and Chis-
tovich, 1966;Lubker and Gay, 1982;Bell-Berti and Harris,
1982; Engstrand, 1981; Perkell, 1986; Sussmanand West-
bury, 1981). Generally, these resultshave been claimed to
supportoneof two conflictingpositions:One view, whichwe
will referto asthe look-aheadmodel (e.g., Henke, 1967), is
that articulatoryfeaturesof a targetphonemigrateto pre-
cedingphonesto an extentthat dependson the featurecom-
positionof the latter. Another view, which we will refer to as
frametheory (Bell-Berti and Harris, 1982), presumesthat
anticipatory coarticulationis due to the coproductionof
neighboringsegments(Fowler, 1980) in a relatively fixed
Portions
ofthisletterwerepresented
atthe103rdMeetingoftheAcousti-
cal Societyof America [Gelfer et al., J. Acoust.Soc.Am. Suppl.1 71,
S104-S105 (1982) ].
temporalframe. It is our positionthat ( 1) the apparentcon-
flictsdependin substantialpart on assumptionsmade about
the feature specificationof phones,and (2) experimental
designcanobviatethe needfor suchassumptions. In particu-
lar, we will refer to anticipatorylip rounding,althoughwe
believethat we are addressing the generalphenomenaof an-
ticipatory coarticulation(Bladon and A1-Bamerni,1982).
Previousstudiesof lip rounding (e.g., Bell-Berti and
Harris, 1979, 1982; Benguereland Cowan, 1974; Daniloff
and Moll, 1968; Engstrand, 1981; Lubker and Gay, 1982)
have employedalveolar consonantstringsbefore rounded
vowelson the assumptionthat theseconsonants are unspeci-
fied with regard to lip configuration.Thus the presenceof
electromyographic(EMG) activity or protrusivelip move-
mentduringtheseconsonants hasbeenpresumedto indicate
the onsetof vowel-conditioned lip activity.However,if this
activity is inherent to the production of the consonants
themselves,then the onsetof anticipatoryvowel-relatedlip
roundingcannotbe determinedunlessthe experimentalde-

2443 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86(6), Dec. 1989; 0001-4966/89/122443-03500.80; @ 1989 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Letters to the Editor 2443

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