Perception of Compound Consonants

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The perceptual confusions among English compounds of two consonants were examined. One defined class of syllables, made up of 15 initial compound consonants in conjunction with three vowel sounds /i/, /a/, and /o/, and another class of 15 final compound consonants in conjunction with the same three vowel sounds, were employed. Recorded syllables were played back against a white noise background and against a low-frequency noise background. Confusion patterns among the compound consonants depended upon the articulatory dimensions of the individual consonant members which formed the compound. That is to say, there was little evidence of interaction among the members of the compound. The confusion patterns indicated that the low speech frequencies, i.e., those frequencies heard above the white noise, convey the consonant distinctions of nasal vs. glide vs. stop, and the distinctions among glides. On the other hand, the higher speech frequencies, heard above the low-frequency noise, conveyed the distinction of affrication and the place distinctions among nasals and stops. The different vowels had minor effects on the perception of the consonants adjacent to them.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: