On the identification of place and voicing features in synthetic stop consonants

Two models of the interaction of phonetic features in speech perception were used to predict Ss' identification functions for a bi-dimensional series of synthetic CV syllables. The stimuli varied systematically in terms of the acoustic cues underlying the features of place of articulation and voicing. Model I assumed the additivity of phonetic features and their independent processing in perception. Model II assumed that the phonetic features interact and are not processed independently. The fit of Model II to the bidimensional series data was better than the fit of Model I suggesting that the phonetic features of place and voicing in stop consonants are not processed independently but rather show a mutual dependency on each other.