Effects of intervocalic consonant characteristics on vowel-to-vowel coarticulation

Abstract

Two male subjects produced VCV syllables that were composed of all possible combinations of the vowels /i,a,u/ and the consonants /p,b,t,d,f,v,s,z/; each syllable was repeated three times. The second formant frequencies of the vowels were measured in the steady state and at the consonant boundaries from wide-band spectrograms. The most obvious finding was that both the steady-state and boundary frequencies were lower with voiced consonants than with voiceless consonants. In addition, the extent of the transition for voiced consonants was greater than for voiceless consonants, particularly in symmetrical VCV syllables. These findings concerning voicing probably are associated with the differential articulatory adjustments required for making the voicing contrast. Fricative and alveolar consonants tended to elevate the steady-state frequencies of the vowels, but these effects were not as marked as those for voicing. Place of articulation had the greatest effect on the extent of both the VC and CV transitions. Differences between subjects and for particular vowel contexts probably are associated with differences in the extent and nature of articulatory adjustments required for the production of VCV syllables.