Native English speakers and Arabic pharyngealization contrasts: Perceptual and acoustic data

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2007-05, Vol.121 (5_Supplement), p.3071-3071
• Main Author: Zaba, Aleksandra M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4781871

Arabic contrasts nonpharyngealized (e.g., /t/) and pharyngealized (e.g., /T/, with a secondary pharyngeal articulation) consonants. These contrasts are manifested acoustically by native Arabic speakers primarily via manipulation of F2 onset and steady-state values for adjacent vowels (vowels adjacent to pharyngealized consonants have lower F2 values than those adjacent to nonpharyngealized consonants). Additionally, consonant duration, following vowel onset and steady-state F1 and F3 values, and burst duration have also been reported in the literature as relevant cues. Because vowels adjacent to pharyngealized consonants tend to have lower F2 values, native English listeners may be able to exploit their sensitivity to English front-back vowel contrasts to detect Arabic pharyngealization contrasts. For example, the vowel in /ta:/ may be perceived by English listeners as closer to English /ae/ and the vowel in /Ta:/ may be perceived as closer to English /a/. We report the results of discrimination and vowel identification experiments in native English listeners’ ability to discriminate pharyngealization contrasts. These experiments examine the contributions of several acoustic cues, in particular those relevant to English vowel contrasts. We also report intertalker/dialect differences among Arabic speakers in the manipulation of acoustic cues to pharyngealization contrasts.