Vowel and consonant durations as cues for quantity in Icelandic

Abstract

Icelandic distinguishes short and long consonants and vowels in stressed syllables. Phonologically, these show complementary quantity in that a short vowel is followed by a long consonant and vice versa. Perceptual experiments have shown that the ratio of vowel to consonant duration is the major cue for quantity, although the vowel spectrum can override the relational cue in those cases where there is a marked difference in the spectral character of the long and short vowels [J. Pind, Scand. J. Psychol. 37, 121–131 (1996)]. Measurements will be reported of vowel and consonant durations in stressed syllables in words spoken repeatedly in sentence frames and in longer connected texts. The utterances were read at different speaking rates. Two questions are of major interest in this study: (1) To what extent do vowel and consonant durations in different environments support a relational cue for quantity? and (2) Is the durational cue weaker in those cases where the spectra of short and long vowels provide another cue for quantity? [Work supported by the Icelandic Science Foundation and University of Iceland.]