Temporal correlates to [voice] in Arabic‐accented English

Abstract

This study explores the phonetic basis for the frequent failure of Arab speakers of English to produce a voicing contrast for stops, especially /p/ (which Arabic lacks). Stressed and unstressed English CVC's were produced in a carrier sentence by Americans and two groups of Saudis. The VOT, vowel duration, and closure duration correlates to [voice] in pre‐ and post‐vocalic position were measured from spectrograms. Closely comparable data were gathered for Arabic, including durations of long and short vowels and consonants. Preliminary results show that the [voice] contrast presents difficulty for both experienced and inexperienced Arab speakers. Temporal specification of [voice] often resembles Arabic phonetic norms: voiceless stops are often produced in the short‐lag range; vowel duration usually corresponds to that of short Arabic vowels; vowel duration fails to be exploited as a correlate to consonant [voice] (although closure duration sometimes is). The voicing contrast is usually weaker in unstressed...