Perceptual evidence for a gestural representation of aspiration

Abstract

Is aspiration part of the preceding consonant, part of the following vowel, or both? It behaves in many ways like part of the consonant which it is marked as occurring on, but it also contributes to listeners' perception of vowel duration. Previous work shows that vowels are perceived as longer following an aspirated stop than following an unaspirated stop (i.e. a cross-category effect). The current study tests whether within-category VOT manipulations of aspirated stops impact English speakers' perception of vowel duration. Vowels were more often identified as long when preceded by longer aspiration. The results are analyzed gesturally, following Articulatory Phonology: Listeners perceive an earlier beginning of the vowel gesture when the aspiration is longer. Because the vowel gesture begins before the end of aspiration, lengthening the VOT in a stimulus lengthens the apparent vowel gesture. This representation of aspiration also has implications for stimulus design.