Comparison of native English speakers’ perception and production of the English vowel /i/

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between speakers’ production and perception of the English vowel /i/. Participants were 24 male native English speakers representing diverse dialects. First, subjects produced /i/ in two speaking conditions: In condition one, subjects were instructed to speak normally; in condition 2, subjects produced exaggerated/hyperarticulated speech. Second, subjects completed 30 trials using a method of adjustment procedure where they selected their perceptually ‘‘preferred or prototype /i/’’ by sampling from a grid of 330 synthetic vowel stimuli that differed in F1 and F2. Speakers differed substantially in their productions, as well as their prototype selections. Preliminary results demonstrate that subjects’ prototypes were generally higher and fronter in the vowel space (i.e., had lower F1 and higher F2 values) than the vowels they actually produced in the normal condition. Moreover, for individual subjects, there was a negative correlation in F2 values for these two conditions (r=−0.40,p<0.05). However, the F2 of the prototype and the hyperarticulated speech did not differ. In general, subjects both perceptually prefer and produce hyperarticulated vowels with extreme F2 values. [Work supported by NIH.]