Preceding Phonological Context and Cluster Type Effects on Word-Initial /S/-Cluster Pronunciation in Brazilian Portuguese/English Interphonology

Abstract

Research has shown that Brazilians tend to insert a vowel before word-initial /σ/-clusters and to voice the /σ/ depending on the following consonant features (e.g., CORNELIAN, 2003; RAUBER, 2006;BAPTISTA, 2006). The present study investigated the perception and production of /σ/-clusters in the Brazilian Portuguese/English interphonology. Production was assessed by three reading tests and perception was assessed by a two-alternative-forced-choice identification test. The stimuli were recorded by three native speakers of American English. The main objective of the study was to verify whether phonological context and cluster type would affect amount of misproductions and misperceptions as previous studies have brought different conclusions regarding production, and perception had not been tested regarding preceding phonological context. The results showed that the preceding phonological context did not significantly affect perception and production even though a tendency was found and that /σ/+sonorant clusters were more difficult than /σ/+stop clusters in both perception and production.

Immediate and long-term effects of a perceptual training in the production of word-initial /s/-clusters in Brazilian Portuguese/English interphonology

“…Participants started relying on cues that were ignored before training. The overall results indicate that there may be a common mechanism for perception and production, "since both domains are affected by the same variables and to a similar extent" (BETTONI; GALLEGO-CAMPOS, 2015).…”