Sensitivity of voice-onset time (VOT) measures to certain segmental features in speech production

Abstract

Voice-onset time (VOT) associated with the initial consonant of CVC words was measured as certain features of the vowel and final consonant were varied systematically. Specifically the experimental manipulations included varying of the tense/lax distinction of vowels and the voicing characteristic of the final consonant. Three subjects recorded each of 36 test words five times, as spoken in the carrier frame Say — instead. VOT and vowel duration measurements were obtained from spectrographic displays, and showed that (1) VOT was longer when the vowel was tense, as compared to lax, regardless of the voicing characteristic of the final consonant, (2) VOT was longer when the final consonant was voiced, as compared to voiceless, and (3) the VOT difference between words in which the vowel is tense and final consonant voiced, as compared to those in which the vowel is lax and final consonant voiceless, is an additive function of the effects noted in (1) and (2) above. Further analysis failed to reveal a meaningful covariance between VOT and vowel duration, so the feasability of linguistic and/or physiological explanations for these data is discussed.