Formant Correlates in Greek Fricative-Vowel Sequences

The present study examined F1 and F2 onset, as well as locus equations in Greek fricative – vowel sequences as distinctive cues for the fricative place of articulation. The effects of voicing, speaker’s gender and post-fricative vowel on both formants’ onset values and locus equations were also investigated. The results showed that F2 onset values distinguished fricatives in terms of place of articulation, except for the labiodental and dental ones. F1 onset values differentiated voiceless from voiced fricatives with voiceless having significantly higher values than voiced ones. The locus equation coefficients i.e. slope and yintercept, also distinguished voiced from voiceless fricatives. Moreover, palatal fricatives were clearly differentiated from the other places of articulation in terms of the y-intercept. A discriminant analysis using slope and y-intercept as predictors successfully categorized Greek palatal fricatives with 83.8% accuracy, while the overall percent correct classification was 54.3%.