Influence of preceding liquids on stop-consonant perception

When a syllable-final liquid precedes a syllable-initial stop, it may influence the perceived place of stop-consonant production. To demonstrate this phenomenon, the CV portions of natural tokens of /al da/, /al ga/, /at da/, and /at ga/ were excised and replaced with closely matched synthetic stimuli forming a /da/-/ga/ continuum. The resulting hybrid disyllables were then presented to listeners who labeled both liquids and stops. More “g” responses were given to stops which replaced /ga/ than to those which replaced /da/, indicating that the preceding VC portion (/al/ or /ar/) contained cues to the following stop consonant. In addition, many more “g” responses were given to stops which followed /al/ than to those which followed /ar/. Spectrograms of the original utterances suggest, in accordance with this perceptual finding, that stops following /l/ are produced with a relatively more forward place of articulation than those following /r/. More detailed acoustic measurements are now in progress. Here, it seems, is another instance where coarticulation accounts for a perceptual context effect. [Work supported by NICHD and BRS.]