ASA 129th Meeting - Washington, DC - 1995 May 30 .. Jun 06
5pSC12. Acoustic analysis of Italian [r] and [l].
Francesca Argiolas
Federico Macri
Maria-Gabriella Di Benedetto
Dept. INFOCOM, Universita degli Studi di Roma `La Sapienza', via
Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Acoustic analysis of Italian [r] and [l] was carried out. Speech materials
consisting of prestressed VCV syllables produced by 3 male and 3 female native
speakers of Italian formed the basis of the present study. Each syllable was
repeated 3 times by each speaker. The vowel in the syllable was [i,a,u] and the
consonant was [r] or [l] in geminated and nongeminated form, leading to 216
syllables. Confirming the results of a previous study on Italian stop
consonants [R. Rossetti, 2874 (1994)] results of the present analysis
showed that the first vowel duration was systematically shortened in the
geminated consonants. The data also showed that in the present case the
duration of the consonant as well as, in most cases, of the VC and CV
transitions were lengthened in the geminated form. Spectral analysis showed
that there is little or no effect on the spectral properties of the consonants
due to the presence of gemination. However, [r] in geminated form is in a few
cases devoiced. Informal perceptual tests indicate that [r] can be
automatically generated from [l] by introducing a silent portion within the
stationary portion of [l].