Spectral transition dynamics of voiceless stop consonants

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Abstract
This article presents dynamic characteristics of spectra of the voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/ in a feature space. The feature variables used in this article are the principal components of spectra of the voiceless stops. They characterize the gross spectral shape, such as a prominent midfrequency spectral peak, a diffuse-rising spectrum, and a diffuse-falling one. The invariability of the transition patterns of each consonant after the burst is evaluated quantitatively, and it is found that each consonant shows its own transition pattern in the majority of cases. Time history of the distance between the three consonants in the feature space is also shown. It shows that the gross spectral shape which characterizes /t/ and /p/ fades out very quickly and the time duration in which distinct spectral differences between them can be observed is as short as 5 ms, at most, after the burst. These spectral transition dynamics are confirmed by supplementary classification experiments.

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