Cue trading in the production and perception of vowel stress

The distinction between stressed and unstressed vowels in noun/verb pairs differentiated by stress (e.g., as in the word ‘‘misprint’’) is known to be cued by the acoustic attributes fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. The role of these cues and vowel centralization measures in perception is ordered differently from that in production. It is not known what variability there is between speakers, whether the acoustic factors vary with speech clarity that a speaker produces on different occasions, or what the relationship is between the various speech attributes. Importantly, no studies have been performed in which production and perception of materials is compared with respect to these questions. In the current study, noun/verb pairs differentiated by stress were produced by four speakers, and measures of produced and perceived clarity obtained for these subjects. The importance of the acoustic factors to the contrast was modeled in perception and production, and the results compared. Additionally, the variation with produced or perceived clarity was ascertained. Finally, comparison between cue trading in production and perception was made. The results are discussed in connection with models of speech perception and production.