Acoustic vs phonological factors in vowel identification

Abstract

Medial vowels and vowels in vowel‐/p/ syllables have been shown to be more accurately identified than isolated vowels and vowels in /p/‐vowel syllables [W. Strange, J. J. Jenkins, and T. Edman, “Identification of vowels in CV and VC syllables,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 58, S59 (A) (1975)]. This result can be accounted for by either phonological or acoustic hypotheses, both of which suggest differential contributions of the initial and final consonants in aiding vowel identification. In the present study we attempted to establish the relative contribution of the acoustic and phonological factors in vowel identification. We compared the identification of nine American English vowels spoken by six adult talkers in four conditions: /b/‐vowel, vowel‐/b/, /b/‐vowel‐/b/, and isolated vowels. Error rates were lowest for the /b/‐vowel‐/b/ syllables (4%) and highest for the isolated vowels (21%). The /b/‐vowel and vowel‐/b/ conditions generated intermediate error rates (17% and 10%, respectively). These results are compared to the earlier study, and an interpretation emphasizing the acoustic factors of vowel identification is offered.