Velar Tap in Dàgáárè

Bodomo (1997) describes intervocalic velar [ɡ] in Dàgáárè as fricative [ɣ]. With
42 tokens of intervocalic [ɡ] from a native speaker of Dàgáárè, we investigated
the acoustic and articulatory features of the Dàgáárè intervocalic velar [ɡ] using
ultrasound images, waveforms, spectrograms, and palatogram. The results of the
study suggest that Dàgáárè intervocalic [ɡ] is not a fricative but a velar with strong
tap-like features, a previously unattested sound in natural language (Ladefoged
1990). Following from this, we conclude that Dàgáárè intervocalic velar [ɡ] is not
a fricative but a tap.