15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-15) Barcelona, Spain August 3-9, 2003

A Role for the Larynx in Contextual VOT Variation in American English?

Julie Larson

University of California at Berkeley, USA

Different glottal gestures regulate contrasts between voiced, unaspirated, and aspirated stops in many languages. But what about contextually-predictable variations in VOT, such as longer VOT before close vowels and sonorant consonants than before open vowels: are aerodynamic factors responsible, as has been hypothesized, or could different glottal gestures be the cause? Glottal aperture was monitored in two adult male American-English speakers using photoglottography. The results give no indication that glottal gestures vary systematically with these contextual VOT variations, thus indirectly supporting the aerodynamic hypothesis.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Larson, Julie (2003): "A role for the larynx in contextual VOT variation in American English?", In ICPhS-15, 3217-3220.