Perception of segments of English-spoken consonant-vowel syllables.

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the effect upon perception of deleting different numbers of 10 msec segments from the initial part of each of a set of consonant-vowel syllables. The scores that were analyzed were proportions of correct identifications of the residual elements by panels of listeners. The outcome was expressed in terms of correct identifications at each duration of the stimuli. Both the correct and error responses were studied to determine the relationship of voicing, manner of release (plosiveness and fricativeness) and place of articulation, to the identification of the stimuli. The results of the experiment indicate that the present procedure is feasible for studying the intelligibility of syllables and their constituent phonemes, and that the voicing manner of release, and place of articulation of the consonant remain evident when the syllable is truncated at the initial end to commence 50 msec before the peak intensity of the vowel of the syllable. The listeners were able to detect correct place of articulation more accurately than either voicing or manner of release as greater amounts of the initial part of a syllable were removed. The responses were related to the threshold of detectability.