Influence of place of articulation on some acoustic correlates of the stop voicing contrast in Parisian French

This study examines place of articulation effects on short-lag V(oice) O(nset) T(ime) [VOT], closure and voiceless interval (VOT+closure) durations of Parisian French word-initial stops produced in post-voiced and -voiceless contexts. Group analyses show a monotonic increase in average short-lag VOT, the more retracted the tongue in all contexts for /p, t, k/ and /b, d, ɡ/ produced with interrupted voicing; labial closures are systematically longer than alveolar and velar closures in all contexts for /b, d, ɡ/ and /p, t, k/; average voiceless interval durations for /p, t, k/ are invariant across places of occlusion; there are no significant correlations between VOT and closure and between VOT and the voiceless interval durations. The monotonic increase in short-lag VOT, congruent with findings in languages with a different phonetic inventory, is ascribed to passive universal processes. The lack of any significant inverse relationship between VOT and closure in Parisian French and in some languages intimates that place-related VOT changes are not strictly determined physiologically by differences in closure durations. The lack of any significant correlation between VOT and the voiceless interval suggests that place-conditioned VOT variations are independent of the abduction gesture in Parisian French.