Linguistic uses of segmental duration in English: Acoustic and perceptual evidence

Abstract

The pattern of durations of individual phonetic segments and pauses conveys information about the linguistic content of an utterance. Acoustic measures of segmental timing have been used by many investigators to determine the variables that influence the durational structure of a sentence. The literature on segmental duration is reviewed and related to perceptual data on the discrimination of duration and to psychophysical data on the ability of listeners to make linguistic decisions on the basis of durational cues alone. We conclude that, in English, duration often serves as a primary perceptual cue in the distinctions between (1) inherently long verses short vowels, (2) voiced verses voiceless fricatives, (3) phrase-final verses non-final syllables, (4) voiced versus voiceless postvocalic consonants, as indicated by changes to the duration of the preceding vowel in phrase-final positions, (5) stressed verses unstressed or reduced vowels, and (6) the presence or absence of emphasis. Subject Classification: [43]70.40, [43]70.70, [43]70.20.