Effects of fundamental frequency on medial and final [voice] judgments

Abstract

Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of f 0variation on [voice] judgments in utterance-final position. Analogous to the effects of varying F 1reported in earlier studies, a lower steady-state f 0during the preceding vowel and a lower offset f 0proximal to consonant closure contributed additively to more [+voice] identification responses. The similarity between the effects of f 0and F 1variation extends the parallel between the effects of these variables observed in other utterance positions, and suggests that a low f 0and a low F 1contribute to a single integrated perceptual correlate of [+voice] consonants. Experiment 2 investigated the effective domain in which f 0variation influences utterance-medial [voice] judgments for VCV stimuli whose primary [voice] cues are consistent with a stressed-unstressed disyllabic pattern. There was an increase in [+voice] identification responses as a function of a lower steady-state and offset f 0in the first syllable and as a function of a lower onset f 0in the second syllable. A comparison of the results with earlier findings suggests that the domain of f 0influence on [voice] judgments may be determined by the syllable-affiliation of the target consonant.