Abstract
Many phonological processes can be affected by segmental context spanning word boundaries, which often lead to variable outcomes. This paper tests the idea that some of this variability can be explained by reference to production planning. We examine coronal stop deletion (CSD), a variable process conditioned by preceding and upcoming phonological context, in a corpus of spontaneous British English speech, as a means of investigating a number of variables associated with planning: Prosodic boundary strength, word frequency, conditional probability of the following word, and speech rate. From the perspective of production planning, (1) prosodic boundaries should affect deletion rate independently of following context; (2) given the locality of production planning, the effect of the following context should decrease at stronger prosodic boundaries; and (3) other factors affecting planning scope should modulate the effect of upcoming phonological material above and beyond the modulating effect of prosodic boundaries. We build a statistical model of CSD realization, using pause length as a quantitative proxy for boundary strength, and find support for these predictions. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that the locality of production planning constrains variability in speech production, and have practical implications for work on CSD and other variable processes.
Highlights
This paper examines the realisation of word-final coronal stops in English consonant clusters as a method of addressing a larger issue: what is the relationship between prosodic boundaries and segmental variation? We argue that this relationship can be better understood by reference to production planning, the psycholinguistic process in which speech sounds are encoded online
Coronal stop deletion (CSD, a.k.a t/d deletion) is one of the most studied cases of variable segmental realisation in English, with decades of work in the sociolinguistic and phonetic literatures showing that a variety of factors condition deletion rate, including surrounding segmental environment, speaking rate, word frequency and morphological class [5, 9, 16, 20]
The production planning hypothesis is concerned with the relationship between the length of a pause and the following phonological environment in conditioning the likelihood of deleting a word-final coronal stop
Summary
This paper examines the realisation of word-final coronal stops in English consonant clusters as a method of addressing a larger issue: what is the relationship between prosodic boundaries and segmental variation? We argue that this relationship can be better understood by reference to production planning, the psycholinguistic process in which speech sounds are encoded online.Coronal stop deletion (CSD, a.k.a t/d deletion) is one of the most studied cases of variable segmental realisation in English, with decades of work in the sociolinguistic and phonetic literatures showing that a variety of factors condition deletion rate, including surrounding segmental environment, speaking rate, word frequency and morphological class [5, 9, 16, 20]. This paper examines the realisation of word-final coronal stops in English consonant clusters as a method of addressing a larger issue: what is the relationship between prosodic boundaries and segmental variation? Prosodic boundaries have long been recognised to affect CSD rate, operationalised in most work as a following context of “pause” (variously defined), and treated like a phonological context—each t/d is followed by either a pause or a vowel or a consonant. This conceptualisation of prosodic boundary is common in the wider literature on variable segmental realisation beyond CSD, such as analogous deletion of final /t/ in Dutch [13]. The first goal of this paper is to clarify the role of prosodic junctures in CSD through an analysis incorporating these methodological changes
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
