| American English vowels are more accurately identified in consonantal context than in isolation. Strange, Edman, and Jenkins (1979) attribute this finding to dynamic acoustic information carried by formant transitions and vowel duration in coarticulated vowels. An alternative explanation is that phonological inappropriateness of lax vowels in isolation leads to their poorer identification.;In one set of experiments, four native speakers of American English produced 11 American English vowels in four syllabic contexts: /t/-vowel-/t/ (TVT), vowel-/t/ (VT), /t/-vowel (TV), and isolated vowel (#V#). American English listeners identified vowels in TVT and VT syllables significantly more accurately than vowels in TV and #V# contexts. The pattern of errors indicated that phonological appropriateness may have affected vowel identification in TV syllables, but not in #V# context. Categorial ABX discrimination was significantly more accurate for vowel in TVT context than for isolated vowels.;One might expect different results for French because phonological and phonetic characteristics of French vowels are different from those of English. Another set of experiments employed four native Parisian French speakers who produced 11 stressed, oral French vowels in TVT, VT, TV, and #V# contexts. Native French listeners identified vowels in TV and #V# contexts more accurately than vowels in VT and TVT contexts. In categorial discrimination, non-native French speakers and non-speakers of French also perceived isolated French vowels more accurately than vowels in TVT context, arguing against phonological interpretations of differences between languages. American non-native speakers of French and non-speakers of French were significantly less accurate than native French in their perception of French vowels, especially front rounded vowels. This would be predicted from the lack of such vowels in English.;Acoustical analyses on French and American English vowels revealed that individual tokens with aberrant center formant frequencies ("targets") or vowel durations could not account for the differences between syllable contexts in either language. There was less diphthongization in French vowels than in English, making vowel "targets" more reliable as sources of information for French vowel identity. Final /t/ seemed to contribute dynamic acoustic information for American English vowel identification, but only interfered with accurate French vowel identification. |
