Variations in jaw and tongue‐body position have been studied when the same word is differently stressed but otherwise identically spoken. Differences between the stresses and unstressed cases for the extreme tongue and jaw positions of the vowel sound indicate for the unstressed case a general neutralization, i.e., less extreme articulation relative to some neutral position. In general, our data do not support the existence of physiological limitations that would prevent the articulator from reaching its intended target in the unstressed case. Rather, stress differentiation appears to be preplanned by modifying the vowel target's articulatory representation as well as its temporal features.