Influence of a syllable's form on the perceived internal structure of voicing categories

Abstract

The role of syllable structure on voice‐onset time (VOT) was examined by comparing VOT values in consonant‐vowel (CV) and consonant‐vowel‐consonant (CVC) syllables, across a range of speaking rates. In a production study, when CV and CVC syllables were equated for overall duration, VOT values were found to be consistently shorter for the CVC than the CV syllables. Furthermore, when syllables were equated for CV duration, VOT values for CV and CVC syllables tended to be equal, suggesting that speakers were producing VOT values with regard to the syllable's CV duration. In a subsequent perception study, listeners adjusted for these changes in VOT by altering three aspects of category structure in relation to the syllable's CV duration, and not to its overall duration — the location of the voiced — voiceless category boundary, the upper limit of the voiceless category, and the range of “good” exemplars that lies between those two boundaries. These findings support the notion that listeners perceptually restructure their phonetic categories so as to accommodate changes in VOT that occur in production as a result of the syllable's phonological context, as”well as its speaking rate. [Work supported by NIH.]