Syllable- and rhyme-internal timing: Combined effects of postvocalic voicing and distinctive vowel length in Norwegian

Abstract

Syllable-internal timing can be affected by a variety of factors, including distinctive vowel length and postvocalic voicing. Distinctive vowel length, which occurs in Norwegian, and postvocalic voicing have typically been found to inversely affect vowel duration and the closure duration of a postvocalic consonant. When these factors converge on a syllable, syllable-internal timing simultaneously reflects the concurrent influence of distinctive vowel length and postvocalic voicing. Research on English [D. M. Behne and L. C. Nygaard, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 93, 2296(A) (1993)] has shown that when multiple factors concurrently influence syllable-internal timing, their effects occur independent of each other. The goal of the present study is to examine the effects of distinctive vowel length and postvocalic voicing on syllable- and rhyme-internal timing, and characterize the concurrent effect of these factors. A set of 12 Norwegian CVCs containing /i, o, a, i:, o:, a:/ before a final voiced and a final voiceless consonant were produced in context by 12 native speakers of Norwegian. Results indicate that syllable-internal timing is independently affected by distinctive vowel length and postvocalic voicing, however their effects on syllable-internal timing were found to differ. These findings will be discussed in terms of syllable- and rhyme-internal timing.