Discrimination of the shape of two-formant transitions before, between and after vowels

摘要

The discrimination of formant transitions has been estimated for three conditions: before an /i/ vowel, between an /a/ vowel and an /i/ vowel and after an /a/ vowel. The difference limens for variation of F1, F2, Fl and F2 in the same direction and Fl and F2 in opposite directions were estimated. It was found that formant transitions after vowels are more discriminable than those before or between vowels. Fl is more discriminable than F2 measured in Hz but less if measured as a percentage. Formant transitions may be plotted as lines in an F1-F2 plane. The discriminability can then be expressed as the angle made by transitions which cannot be distinguished. Using this measure the discriminability of vowel-vowel transitions is independent of whether Fl, F2 or both are varied. For post-vowel transitions, however, F2 variations are most easily discriminated. [References: 14]