Abstract
The fricative-affricate contrast is signalled by a set of diverse acoustic features [L. Gerstman, Ph.D. thesis, New York University (1957)]. A previous study suggests that major syntactic boundaries constrain the stretch of speech over which these features are integrated in perception [D. R. Dechovitz, “Speech Communication Papers,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1, 66, S79 (1979)]. In the present research, the role of silence in distinguishing fricative from affricate is assessed at a major syntactic boundary which is not marked with obligatory acoustic changes, and in sentence positions occurring before syntactic structure has unfolded. The present results confirm that the influence of syntax need not be mediated by prosodic variables and indicate that listeners' expectations about constituent structure can determine syntactic effects. [Research supported by NICHD.]
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