Year: 1979
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Two experiments demonstrate that the amplitude of (appropriately band-limited) aspiration noise is a cue for the distinction between voiced and voiceless syllable-initial stop consonants in English, and that it can be traded for aspiration noise duration, i.e., voice onset time (VOT). In Experiment I, the category boundary on a synthetic VOT continuum (/da/-/ta/, without bursts) was found to be a linear function of the amplitude ratio between the aspirated and vocalic portions. In Experiment II, a natural release burst was added to the synthetic stimuli, and burst and aspiration amplitudes were varied orthogonally. Both factors affected the voicing boundary in the expected direction but not independently; however, their interaction may have been due to backward masking of weak bursts by strong aspiration noise. If the data are adjusted for this presumed masking effect, the effect of burst amplitude seems very small compared to that of aspiration amplitude. Thus, other things equal a synthetic stop sounds the more voiceless (i.e., aspirated) the more aspiration there is, the perceived amount of aspiration being a function of both noise duration and amplitude. [Work supported by NICHD and BRS.]
DOI: 10.1121/1.2017505
Author: Bruno H. Repp
Institution: Haskins Laboratories
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1973346010