Perceptual assessment of fricative‐stop coarticulation

Abstract

The perceptual dependence of stop consonants on preceding fricatives [V. A. Mann and B. H. Repp, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 64, S17 (1978)] was further investigated in a series of experiments employing fricative noises and CV portions excerpted from natural utterances ([∫ta], [∫ka], [sta], [ska]), both in isolation and in combination with synthetic stimulus portions drawn from a [∫]‐[s] or [ta]‐[ka] continuum. These experiments consistently replicated our original finding that listeners report more velar stops following [s]. In addition, we found that natural fricative noises contain cues to the following stop consonants, as revealed in subjects' responses to isolated natural fricative noises and to combinations of these noises with synthetic CV portions. Most importantly, we found that the formant transitions in natural CV portions vary with the preceding fricative in perceptually significant ways: Subjects' responses to excised natural CV portions (with bursts and aspiration removed) were biased towards a relatively more forward place of stop articulation when the CVs had originally been preceded by [s], and this held both for CV portions presented in isolation and when combined with synthetic fricative noises. Thus an articulatory explanation for the effect of preceding fricatives on stop consonant perception is supported.[Work supported by NICHD and BRS.]