Articulatory characteristics of preboundary lengthening in interaction with prominence on tri-syllabic words in American English

Abstract

This study investigated articulation of preboundary lengthening (PBL) in tri-syllabic pseudo words (bababa, bababa, bababa) in American English. Results from 10 speakers showed that PBL was modulated by the degree of prominence, i.e., the less prominent, the more PBL. PBL was attracted to the penultimate stressed syllable but only when the word received no pitch accent whereas the antepenultimate syllable showed no PBL. Kinematically, PBL was accompanied by a larger movement along with an increase in peak velocity, showing a kind of boundary-related articulatory strengthening, although there was some evidence of temporal expansion possibly due to lowered stiffness.