Phonetic alignment constraints: consonant overlap and palatalization in English and Russian

Abstract

The possibility of differences in phonetic alignment of phonological segments was examined by contrasting consonant sequences at word boundaries in Russian and English. In Experiment 1, two acoustic measures of consonant overlap, percent released and duration ratio, are computed for stop sequences at word boundaries, and results for English and Russian are compared. While significant variation due to subject, phrase, and cluster type was found, English consistently showed significantly greater overlap than Russian. A formal account of both the variation and the consistent difference is offered, incorporating the idea of phonetic alignment constraints within Byrd's (1996 b) “phase window” framework. Experiment 2 examines the relationship between overlap and palatalization (or lack thereof) at word boundaries, with an acoustic study of /s+j/ sequences in both English and Russian. The claim of Zsiga (1995) that the apparent change from /s/ to /∫/ in phrases such as “press your point” can be attributed to overlap between the /s/ and /j/ gestures is tested and partially supported. In addition to alignment constraints, however, additional phonetic constraints must be taken into account. It is concluded that phonetic constraints must differ from phonological both in containing quantitative information and in being evaluated through weighting rather than strict dominance.