Bouavichith Dominique, Davidson Lisa
New York University, New York, N.Y., USA.
Phonetica. 2013;70(3):182-206. doi: 10.1159/000355635. Epub 2013 Nov 22.
De scriptions of lenition have often assumed that connected speech reductions are the phonetic precursors of phonological lenition processes. In this article, production of intervocalic voiced stops during reading in American English is examined to determine whether connected speech reduction processes mirror the stages of lenition that have been posited in the phonological literature. The first result shows that American English speakers never lenite to fricatives or debuccalize to [h] or glottal stop, but rather produce approximants whenever reduction occurs. Second, stress plays an essential role: 51% of stops are produced as approximants when stress is on the preceding syllable (e.g. 'yoga'), but only 7% of stops weaken when stress is on the following syllable (e.g. 'lagoon'). Approximant productions are longer and higher in intensity than stop productions when stress precedes the target consonant, but when stress follows the target consonant, the stop cues are enhanced. These acoustic findings suggest that English speakers prioritize the realization of acoustic cues to stress, including the robust production of stop consonants, over pressures to reduce or weaken consonants in intervocalic position.
轻音化的描述常常假定，连读中的语音简化是音系学轻音化过程的语音学先兆。在本文中，我们研究了美式英语阅读中词中浊塞音的发音情况，以确定连读中的语音简化过程是否反映了音系学文献中所假定的轻音化阶段。第一个结果表明，说美式英语的人从不将浊塞音轻化为擦音，也不会脱除口腔阻碍而发成[h]或喉塞音，而是在发生简化时发成近音。其次，重音起着至关重要的作用：当重音在前一个音节时（如“yoga”），51%的塞音发成近音，但当重音在后一个音节时（如“lagoon”），只有7%的塞音弱化。当重音在目标辅音之前时，近音发音的时长更长，强度更高，但当重音在目标辅音之后时，塞音的特征增强。这些声学研究结果表明，说英语的人优先考虑实现重音的声学特征，包括塞音的清晰发音，而不是词中元音间辅音简化或弱化的压力。
