Position-in-Utterance Duration Effects

Abstract

The duration of speech segments as a function of position in utterances (initial, medial, final) was studied. Seven English speakers read nonsense utterances of the form “say a bab, say a babab, say a babab,” etc. Spectrograms were used to determine the duration of speech segments in the readings. Final syllables were found to be longer than nonfinal syllables. Final-syllable vowel increments were about 100 msec. Final-syllable consonant increments were less than vowel increments, for instance, 20 msec for absolute final consonants. Also word-initial consonants were found to be lengthened by 20–30 msec. It is suggested that durational studies in general should be interpreted in the light of findings concerning position-in-utterance lengthening. Explanations of lengthening effects are discussed. One theory suggests that lengthening in certain utterance positions is a learned aspect of languages which cues listeners concerning the segmentation of utterances into words, phrases, or sentences. Explanations based on hypothesized properties of the articulatory control system are also discussed.