Hearing fricatives without frication: A conceptual replication of Shinn & Blumstein (1984)

Consonant manner is thought to be perceptually robust, and fricatives categorized by frication. However, work on the /b/-/w/ contrast in American English [Shinn & Blumstein, J. Acoust. Soc. Am 75(4), 1243–1252 (1984)] demonstrated formant transition duration (TD) and amplitude rise time (ART) alone can trigger fricative “v” responses. We attempt to replicate this, presenting three 11-item TD continua of CV syllables, with ART held at its fastest (/b/-amplitude), slowest (/w/-amplitude), or covaried with TD (standard), in paired categorization (“b” or “w”) and free response blocks. Participants encountered one of three block structures: like the original, two pairs of blocks, the first containing standard stimuli, and the second non-standard stimuli; two pairs both containing all continua; or one pair of longerblocks containing all continua. Participants heard only one of two vowels (/a/ or /i/). Interim results do not replicate previous categorization findings: we report similarly steep responses across continua, contrasting with previous ceiling and floor effects for /b/- and /w/-amplitude continua. Free response findings do replicate, showing that longer TD induces “w” responses and ART delineates “b” and “v” responses. This suggests formant details are relevant for fricative category, and manner is more malleable after all.