Effects of first formant onset properties on voicing judgments of prevocalic stops without F1 cutback

Abstract

This study examines the effects of first formant (F1) onset properties on voicing judgments of prevocalic stop consonants in contexts that do not exhibit the F1 cutback covariation present in pretonic and utterance-initial voicing contrasts. Previous research [K. R. Kluender and A. J. Lotto, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 1044–1052 (1994)] strongly suggests that F1 onset frequency effects on voicing judgements are due to auditory factors, and not to listener experience with natural covariance with F1 cutback and F1 onset frequency. The present study extends the previous findings to voicing contrasts in contexts that are not signaled by F1 cutback, such as before unstressed vowels in English. Categorization data were collected for a continuum between rabid (/b/) and rapid (/p/) in which both closure duration and F1 onset properties were manipulated using LPC resynthesis of natural speech. Preliminary results indicate that lower F1 onset frequencies of the unstressed vowel condition more voiced percepts of the preceding stop consonant, consistent with findings for utterance-initial stop consonants.