In cancers that affect the tongue, the most common treatment is glossectomy, a procedure that can have substantial effects on a patient’s intelligibility. We are seeking to identify the effect of this resection on the use of four muscles – genioglossus, transversus, verticalis, and superior longitudinal, which comprise the bulk of the tongue. MRI data was used to study differences in tongue muscle shortening patterns during the speech task “a thing” between patients who have undergone glossectomies and controls who have not. Speech data was collected from 2D tagged-MRI movies and reconstructed into 3D volumes at 26 timeframes. Velocity fields and tissue points were extracted and shortening was calculated to study how the muscles were used by glossectomies vs. controls to protract and retract the tongue during /θ/. The results reveal differences in function between the two groups, and potential compensation strategies for glossectomy patients.