Asymmetric effects of speaking rate on voice-onset time: The case of Russian
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2012/05/0022/000228Keywords:
phonetics, phonology, speaking rate, voice-onset time, RussianAbstract
This paper explores the effects of speaking rate on the voice-onset time (VOT) of lenis and fortis stops in Russian—an area of enquiry that has not been addressed in the previous literature. Accumulating cross-linguistic studies have revealed clear asymmetries regarding how speaking rate impacts these boundaries. The overall results of this acoustic study indicate that Russian lenis stops (falling into the pre-voiced VOT category) are significantly affected by changes in speaking rate, whereas fortis stops (short-lag VOT category) are only minimally affected. These findings align closely with patterns observed across various other languages. Furthermore, the results indicate that the VOT distributions of Russian lenis and fortis categories overlap only slightly, remaining highly distinct even across shifting speaking rates.
References
Boersma, P. and Weenink, D. 2010. *Praat: Doing phonetics by computer* (Version 5.1.31) [Computer program]. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from [http://www.praat.org/](http://www.praat.org/).
Kessinger, R. H. and Blumstein, S. E. 1997. Effects of speaking rate on voice-onset time in Thai, French, and English. *Journal of Phonetics*, 25(2), 143–168.
Lisker, L. and Abramson, A. S. 1964. A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. *Word*, 20(3), 384–422.
Magloire, J. and Green, K. P. 1999. A cross-language comparison of speaking rate effects on the production of voice onset time in English and Spanish. *Phonetica*, 56(3-4), 158–185.
Miller, J. L., Green, K. P. and Reeves, A. 1986. Speaking rate and segments: A look at the relation between speech production and speech perception for the voicing contrast. *Phonetica*, 43(1-3), 106–115.
Ringen, C. and Kulikov, V. 2012. Voicing in Russian stops: Cross-linguistic implications. *Journal of Phonetics*, 40(2), 333–346.
Theodore, R. M., Miller, J. L. and DeSteno, D. 2009. Individual talker differences in voice-onset time: Contextual influences. *The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America*, 125(6), 3974–3982.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Mayuki Matsui (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.