Long Consonant

Introduction Pohnpeian (ISO639-3 pon) is a phonetically understudied Oceanic language spoken by about 34,000 people in the Federated States of Micronesia, and 12,000 in the United States. Rehg & Sohl (1981) claim that Pohnpeian has a typologically uncommon geminate/singleton contrast in word initial, medial, and final positions. We explored the acoustic differences between geminates and singletons by measuring the total segment durations .

The present study examines possible temporal effects of the word-initial geminate consonant contrast in Kelantan Malay beyond the duration of the target consonant itself. We are interested in identifying any duration interactions with following vowels that could potentially enhance the acoustic salience of geminate consonants, in particular word-initial voiceless geminate stops. Results indicate that post-consonantal vowel duration can vary as a function of preceding consonant length and according to prosodic context. This is especially the case for post-consonantal low central vowels in utterance-medial position in which vowel duration is significantly shorter following geminate stops. Although the effect was not consistent across all speakers, the results agree with findings from other languages in that durational effects of geminate timing extend to adjacent segments as well as to much larger stretches of utterance.

This study investigates whether the amplitude of release bursts is a potential cue to the word-initial singleton/geminate contrast in Kelantan Malay (KM). The voiceless stop series (/p-pp/, /t-tt/, /k-kk/) were examined in two different utterance conditions. Results show that release bursts for geminate stops were produced with significantly greater energy than those for singleton stops, suggesting greater articulatory efforts to mark gemination. Although the effects of prosodic context and stop place of articulation were noticeable, significant amplitude differences were preserved across utterance contexts. The findings support the role of spectral parameters, in particular release burst amplitude, in enhancing the short/long consonant contrast in this Malay variety.

This study investigates whether the amplitude of release bursts is a potential cue to the word-initial singleton/geminate contrast in Kelantan Malay (KM). The voiceless stop series (/p-pp/, /t-tt/, /k-kk/) were examined in two different utterance conditions. Results show that release bursts for geminate stops were produced with significantly greater energy than those for singleton stops, suggesting greater articulatory efforts to mark gemination. Although the effects of prosodic context and stop place of articulation were noticeable, significant amplitude differences were preserved across utterance contexts. The findings support the role of spectral parameters, in particular release burst amplitude, in enhancing the short/long consonant contrast in this Malay variety.