Voice onset times and burst frequencies of four velar stop consonants in Gujarati

Acoustic Correlates of the Four-Way Laryngeal Contrast in Marathi

The study examines acoustic correlates of the four-way laryngeal contrast in Marathi, focusing on temporal parameters, voice quality, and onset f0. Acoustic correlates of the laryngeal contrast were investigated in the speech of 33 native speakers of Marathi, recorded in Mumbai, India, producing a word list containing six sets of words minimally contrastive in terms of laryngeal specification of word-initial velar stops. Measurements were made for the duration of prevoicing, release, and voicing during release. Fundamental frequency was measured at the onset of voicing following the stop and at 10 additional time points. As measures of voice quality, amplitude differences between the first and second harmonic (H1-H2) and between the first harmonic and the third formant (H1-A3) were calculated. The results demonstrated that laryngeal categories in Marathi are differentiated based on temporal measures, voice quality, and onset f0, although differences in each dimension were unequal in magnitude across different pairs of stop categories. We conclude that a single acoustic correlate, such as voice onset time, is insufficient to differentiate among all the laryngeal categories in languages such as Marathi, characterized by complex four-way laryngeal contrasts. Instead, a joint contribution of several acoustic correlates creates a robust multidimensional contrast.

An acoustic and perceptual study of initial stops produced by profoundly hearing impaired adolescents

This study investigated the role of Voice Onset Time (VOT) as perceptual cue to the aspiration contrast of Cantonese initial stops produced by adolescent profoundly hearing impaired speakers. Speakers with normal hearing signalled the aspiration contrast through VOT differences. Hearing impaired speakers produced initial stops with no significant VOT differences between aspirated and unaspirated stops; the accuracy of perception were above chance level for unaspirated stops but were below chance level for aspirated stops. Discriminant analysis conducted on data from a perceptual task showed that listeners with normal hearing relied on VOT cue for aspiration contrast of initial stops produced by control speakers. By contrast, stops produced by the hearing impaired speakers were not distinguished by listeners on the basis of VOT in that listeners were able to rely on VOT as a perceptual cue only to unaspirated stops, but not to aspirated stops.