Abstract
The duration of a vowel is dependent on its inherent quality, and can be affected by speaking rate, sentence position, focal stress, and voicing of a following consonant. The goal of this study was twofold: (1) to confirm the independent effects of each of these factors on vowel duration; and (2) to describe their effects when combined in the same sentence. Using /i, o, a, æ/, conversations were developed with /kVt/ and /kVd/ as target words. In each conversation a target word occurred in initial or final sentence position, and was either focused or nonfocused by the discourse. Subjects produced each conversation at three speaking rates. The results indicate that (1) as expected, vowel duration differed among vowel qualities and was affected by speaking rate, sentence position, focal stress, and voicing of a following consonant; and (2) when converging on a vowel, the investigated factors influence vowel duration independently. These findings suggest that the effects are simultaneously reflected in vowel duration by being superimposed on one other.
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