The Basis of Articulation

The traditional phonetic notion "basis of articulation" is reviewed & recommended for study in the context of natural phonology. The term is used to designate the lang-specific homing positions of articulators in running speech, claimed to directly determine the quality of the predominant hesitation vowel (eg, English uh), & possibly influencing the quality of vowels in positions of reduction & epenthesis. The basis is compared to the popular notion "speech neutral position." Using historical data from French, it is argued that "local" & tract setting phenomena must be distinguished. The basis can accommodate the articulations of a lang, but it is claimed that the basis can in turn be accommodated by the processes: this appears to be what happened in the replacement of French apical [r] by a uvular trill. It is argued that it would be unwise to characterize the notions "phonetic motivation" & "markedness" without reference to lang-particular bases of articulation. AA