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The perceptual integrity of initial consonant clusters.
Authors:
Cutler, A. & Butterfield, S.
Reference:
Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics, Speech and Hearing, 8, 31-36.
Year of publication:
1986
CBU number:
1971
Abstract:
Detection time for word-initial phonemes is faster when the phoneme is followed by a vowel (as in band) than when the phoneme is part of a cluster ( as in brand or bland). We investigateed this effect as a function of the model which subjects were given for the target phoneme. Subjects listened for word-initial target phonemes in continuous utterances. Subjects who were told throughout the experiment to listen for “/b/ as in bowl” were faster with words like band than with like brand or bland, as previously found. However subjects told to listen for “/b/ as in blue” were faster with words like brand than with words like band or brand, while subjects told to listen for “/b/ as in brave” were faster with words like brand than with words like band or bland. We further demonstrated that no such effects are found with consonant-vowel onsets; varying the models “/b/ as in Bill” and “/b/ as in Ben” had no effect on time to detect /b/ in words like builders or benches. The “matching model” effect is specific to consonant clusters, and suggests that word-initial clusters are perceived as integral units.