Browman’s Articulatory Phonology explains phonological observations in a way that reflects the physical reality of the articulators. For example, Browman explains the “disappearance” of [t] in the phrase perfect memory. In fast speech, when this [t] is not heard, it would be described as being deleted along with all of its features under the Targets and Interpolations model. However, in Browman’s analysis, the [t] is still in fact articulated (the blade of the tongue makes the corresponding gesture), but it is “hidden” by temporal overlap of the preceding and following articulations ([k] and [m]). This same system can be used to explain assimilations. In Browman’s analysis, resulting assimilations/deletions occur “more-or-less” and not “all-or-none” as other theories are bound to; whereas articulatory phonology can account for both gradient and categorical information, previous theories have to adhere to the categorical.
