An electrical analog of the vocal tract is used to obtain experimental relations between certain idealized articulatory parameters and formant frequencies associated with the transitional and stop portions of vowel‐consonant syllables. The data are discussed in terms of the “locus hypothesis” proposed by Delattre, Liberman, and Cooper [J. Acoust. Soc. Am.21, 769 (1955)] and in terms of simple resonator theory. It is concluded that the results modify the hypothesis that assigns one second‐formant locus to all vowel‐consonant transitions involving a given class of stop consonants. In particular, the second‐formant loci for transitions to velar and bilabial stop consonants appear to vary over a range of frequencies depending on the vowel, while loci for post‐dental stop consonants are relatively invariant. Characteristics of first‐ and third‐formant loci are discussed briefly.