Vowel environments in minimal pair sequences

Abstract

An earlier study replicated the global fundamental frequency declination effect over the minimal pair sentences used here. In order to test for local influences near word boundaries, three classes of measurements (duration, mean fundamental frequency, and fundamental frequency standard deviation or movement) were made on vowels that immediately preceded critical segments in minimal pairs (He found the fur meager/He found the firm eager). Preliminary results suggest that important features of the preceding vowels in minimal pairs survive differences of word boundary position; those features of preceding vowels do not provide general, cross-contextual cues to presence of word boundary. Further analysis using a speech perception task will determine whether listeners can identify which sentence of the minimal pair has been uttered. [Work supported by NIH.]