Abstract:

In listener classifications of tokens along a /da/--/ga/ continuum, more /g/ judgments are given if the syllables are preceded by /al/ or /as/ than /ar/ or /a(sh)/ [Mann, Percept. Psychophys. 28, 407--412 (1980); Mann and Repp, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 548--558 (1981)]. These effects may reflect perceptual compensation for coarticulatory effects of consonants on a following stop: A front constriction causes fronting in the stop. Thus fronted preceding consonants induce more /g/ responses. These effects were investigated by contrasting /r/ with a ``front'' /l/ with an exaggerated tongue-tip gesture and a ``back'' /l/ with no tongue-tip gesture. /s/ and /(sh)/ were contrasted with the velar /x/. These consonants were produced in /aC/ or /(cursive beta)C/ syllables, and were followed by synthetic /da/'s and /ga/'s. Both /al/ variants resulted in more /g/ judgments than did /r/. However, when the vowel was /(cursive beta)/, only the back /l/ produced this effect, contradicting the compensation explanation. The effect of /x/ relative to /s/ and /(sh)/ depended on the syllables' original context (preceding /da/ or /ga/). Finally, the syllables were tested with F2 /ba/--/da/ and /ba/--/ga/ continua. Results will be discussed with regard to gestural and acoustic explanations.