What does "coarticulation" refer to in speech production?

Coarticulation refers specifically to the phenomenon where the articulatory gestures for different phonemes overlap during speech production. This overlapping occurs because humans naturally adjust their speech production to be more efficient, leading to changes in the articulation of sounds depending on the adjacent sounds. For example, the way a speaker produces the "s" sound may be influenced by the following vowel sound, resulting in a slightly altered articulation compared to when "s" stands alone.

Understanding coarticulation is essential for analyzing how speech sounds blend and the potential impact on phoneme perception. Recognizing this overlap helps in the study of phonetics and phonology, as it shows the fluid and dynamic nature of speech rather than viewing sounds as produced in isolation.