Perception of temporal versus spectral information in French vowels

Abstract

Perceptual effects of orthogonal variations in temporal and spectral information differentiating French /o/ and /ɔ/were examined. Although both parameters contribute to acoustic differentiation of /o/ and /ɔ/, several phonetic and phonological characteristics of French lead us to expect that duration is a less important perceptual dimension in French than in languages like American English. Three 10-step /kot/-/kot/ continua were synthesized by systematically varying F1 and F2 of the vowel nuclei. The three continua differed in vowel duration: 200, 160, and 120 ms. Two perceptual tests, identification (labeling stimuli as /o/ or /ɔ/) and rating (judging vowel category goodness on a five-point scale), were presented to two groups of listeners: native French and native American English learning French. Preliminary results indicate language group differences. Native French listeners showed little effect of vowel duration in either perceptual task. Americans generally showed displacements of the /o/-/ɔ/ boundary and shifts in category goodness as a function of vowel duration (indicating a trading relation between temporal and spectral information). Further perceptual study investigates whether these French-speaking Americans also differ from Americans with no knowledge of French. [Supported by NIH Grants 5-F32-NS-07196-02 and RR-05596 and SUNY Research Foundation.]