Vowel Length Variation as a Function of the Voicing of the Consonant Environment

Chen, Matthew

doi:10.1159/000259312

Cited by 379 publications

(302 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Final glottal stops may cause vowel shortening if the vowel is shorter before voiceless stops as a general phonetic trend. This is true in a variety of languages (Chen 1970). Rather than suggesting that vowel duration of non-modally phonated vowels is synchronically-related to some active parameter of enhancement, it may be directly motivated by its historical origin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The phonetics of register in Takhian Thong Chong

DiCanio¹

2009

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

102

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The Chong language uses a combination of different acoustic correlates to distinguish among its four contrastive registers (phonation types). Electroglottographic (EGG) and acoustic data were examined from original fieldwork on the Takhian Thong dialect. EGG data shows high open quotient (OQ) values for the breathy register, low OQ values for the tense register, intermediate OQ values for the modal register, and rapidly changing high to low OQ values for the breathy-tense register. Acoustic correlates indicate that H1-A3 best distinguishes between breathy and non-breathy phonation, but measures like H1-H2 and pitch are necessary to discriminate between tense and non-tense phonation. A comparison of spectral tilt and OQ measures shows the greatest correlation between OQ and H1-H2, suggesting that changes in the relative amplitude of frequencies in the upper spectrum are not directly related to changes in the open period of the glottal cycle. OQ is best correlated with changes in the degree of glottal tension.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The phonetics of register in Takhian Thong Chong

DiCanio¹

2009

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

102

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“…In speech, a variety ofphonetic regularities are well documented (e.g., Chen, 1970;Chomsky & Halle, 1968;Klatt, 1976;Peterson & Lehiste, 1960;Stevens & House, 1963). One relevant example is that the durations ofspeech sounds often depend upon surrounding, coarticulated speech sounds.…”

Section: The Evidence Thus Farmentioning

confidence: 99%

What the reader’s eye tells the mind’s ear: Silent reading activates inner speech

Abramson

Goldinger

1997

Perception & Psychophysics

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Although copious research has investigated the role of phonology in reading, little research has investigated the precise nature of the entailed speech representations. The present study examined the similarity of "inner speech" in reading to overt speech. Two lexical decision experiments (in which participants gave speeded word/nonword classifications to letter strings) assessed the effects of implicit variations in vowel and word-initial consonant length. Responses were generally slower for phonetically long stimuli than for phonetically short stimuli, despite equal orthographic lengths. Moreover, the phonetic length effects displayed principled interactions with common factors known to affect lexical decisions, such as word frequency and the similarity of words to nonwords. Both phonetic length effects were stronger among slower readers. The data suggest that acoustic representations activated in silent reading are best characterized as inner speech rather than as abstract phonological codes.

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“…In order to maintain the contrast between words like sack and sag, English exploits the duration of the preceding vowel. In what has come to be described as pre-fortis shortening or clipping, vowels before tautosyllabic fortis (voiceless) obstruents are shortened in English, well beyond the universal tendency for vowels to be shorter before fortis obstruents (Chen 1970). With this universal tendency greatly enhanced, vowel duration before fortis and lenis consonants has become phonologized in English (Kohler 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-fortis shortening in Czech English: A production and reaction-time study

Skarnitzl

Šturm

2016

RiL

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This study focuses on the production and perception of English words with a fortis vs. lenis obstruent in the syllable coda. The contrast is mostly cued by the duration of the preceding vowel, which is shorter before fortis than before lenis sounds in native speech. In the first experiment we analyzed the production of 10 Czech speakers of English and compared them to two native controls. The results showed that the Czech speakers did not sufficiently exploit duration to cue the identity of the word-final obstruent. In the second experiment we manipulated C and V durations in target words to transplant the native ratios onto the Czech-accented speech, enhancing the fortis–lenis contrast, and vice versa. 108 listeners took part in a word-monitoring task in which reaction times were measured. The hypothesized advantage to items in which the target word (with a fortis or lenis obstruent) was semantically congruent with the following context was not confirmed, and subsequent analyses showed that the words’ frequency of use and the collocations they enter into strongly affect speech processing and correlate to a large degree with the reaction times.

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Vowel Length Variation as a Function of the Voicing of the Consonant Environment

Cited by 379 publications

References 3 publications

The phonetics of register in Takhian Thong Chong

The phonetics of register in Takhian Thong Chong

What the reader’s eye tells the mind’s ear: Silent reading activates inner speech

Pre-fortis shortening in Czech English: A production and reaction-time study

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