Phrase-final lengthening modulates listeners' perception of vowel duration as a cue to coda stop voicing

Abstract

The present study addresses how listeners may be sensitive to temporal regularities associated with prosody in their perception of durational segmental cues. Specifically, this study tests whether expectations about phrase-final lengthening mediate listeners' categorization of a “coat”∼“code” vowel duration continuum, where vowel duration cues stop voicing. Prosodic position of the target was manipulated such that it was either medial, or final in a carrier phrase. Results indicate that this prosodic manipulation influences categorization such that listeners effectively require longer vowel duration for a “code” response when the target is phrase-final, suggesting that prosodic patterns can modulate listeners' processing of temporal cues.