Abstract
The durations of initial and final consonant clusters in monosyllabic words within a frame sentence were studied from spectrograms of reading by speakers. The durations of consonants within a cluster varied with the features of the consonant and its phonetic environment, such as voicing and point and manner of articulation. A durational model was proposed based on two mechanisms: an articulatory mechanism was responsible for effects involving motion of the tongue and lips during a cluster. Shortening of consonants in clusters was attributed to the shorter distances that the articulators travel in clusters. Lengthening of consonants before fricatives and aspiration duration effects were part of this articulatory mechanism. The other factor was a “learned” mechanism, related to the use of duration as an acoustic cue in consonant perception. Phonetically similar single consonants had substantial durational differences which could aid in distinguishing them. Phonological restrictions, which do not occur in VCV contexts, arise in clusters; and when adjacent consonants provided information about another consonant's features, durational differences were less. [This research supported by an NSF Fellowship.]
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