F1‐cutback interactions in the perception of voicing contrasts

Abstract

A number of investigators have identified both VOT and F1 cutback as major cues for voicing contrasts. At recent meetings we have presented evidence that sinusoidal analogs to isolated F1‐cutback stimuli are perceived in a relatively discrete fashion with category boundaries corresponding to those found for synthetic speech continua. In contrast to nonspeech analogs to VOT continua (both tone‐onset‐time for stationary and nonstationary stimuli, and noise‐onset‐time for noise‐buzz stimuli), the sinusoidal analogs to F1 cutback exhibit a dependency of the category boundary on spectral frequency. Furthermore, the category boundary locations for the F1‐cutback analogs correspond to the voicing contrast boundary locations for speech stimuli. Our current research examines the perception of the F1‐cutback analog presented in conjunction with various configurations of tone‐onset‐time and noise‐onset‐time continua. In all current conditions, the degree of F1‐cutback analog and the relative onset asynchrony in the F2 frequency region are equivalent. The results will be discussed in terms of the similarities and difference in parameter dependencies for these nonspeech stimuli and voicing contrasts for speech stimuli.