On the perception of incomplete neutralization

Abstract

The perception of American English epenthetic and underlying stops(as in prin[t]ce~prints) was examined in a forced-choice identificationexperiment that controlled for word frequency and familiarity, closureduration and presence of burst. The results showed that listenersare largely unable to distinguish minimal pairs on the basis of differencesin closure duration and the presence or absence of burst; word frequencyand familiarity had little effect on the results. Generally, listenershad more difficulty with stimuli with strong [t]s (long closure,burst) than with stimuli with weak [t]s, which they tended to categorizeas “nce” words. Overall the results suggest that [ns]~[nts] is closeto complete neutralization in favor of [nts]. Keywords: epenthesis,incomplete neutralization, perceptual sensitivity, American English.