Effects of repeated production on vowel distinctiveness within nonwords

In the present study acoustic distinctiveness of vowels within nonwords with repeated production was investigated. Participants were 9 males and 15 females divided into two groups. Participants repeated 6 nonwords varying in phonemic composition. The mean Euclidean distance (MED) of the vowels from each production of a nonword from the center of the F1/F2 space was calculated. The changes in MED with repeated production were analyzed using linear mixed effects regression. Results revealed an increase in MED, indicating greater vowel dispersion, for the three-syllable nonwords and a significant decrease, i.e., greater reduction, in vowel dispersion for the six-syllable nonwords. Findings support the dynamic influence of sublexical processes on phonetic realization in speech production.