Adults’ perception and production of the English vowel /i/

Abstract

The present experiment examined the link between the perception and production of the English vowel /i/. Thirty-five male subjects produced the vowel /i/ in the following two conditions: first, subjects produced ‘‘casual’’ or citation speech; second, subjects produced exaggerated (hyperarticulated) speech. Subjects then completed a perceptual experiment employing a method of adjustment procedure which enabled them to select their own preferred or ideal exemplar for /i/. Subjects’ vowel productions were measured with LPC analysis for the following parameters: F0, F1, F2, and duration. The perceptual data were averaged for each subject to determine their preferred F1 and F2 dimensions. Comparing the two speech samples yielded predicted results in that the hyperarticulated speech was more extreme and fronted within the vowel space than the citation speech. Analyses also revealed a negative correlation between subjects’ citation speech and their perceptual data, reflecting a tendency for the perceptual data to be higher and more fronted in the vowel space than citation speech. The production data were converted to bark difference scores for F1−F0 (vowel height) and F2−F1 (front–back dimension). These values were compared to subjects’ perceptual data and demonstrated that the hyperarticulated speech was more similar to the perceptual data than citation speech.a) Formerly at Dept. of Psych., Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, AL.