The Effect of Coda Voicing Contrast on Vowel Duration in American English and Najdi Arabic: A Comparison Study

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study investigating the influence of consonant voicing status on the duration of preceding vowels in Najdi Arabic and American English. In this study, the phonetic correlates of the voicing feature in Najdi Arabic and American English were examined with regard to vowel duration were examined. In addition, acoustic measurements (duration, fundamental frequency, and second formant frequency levels) were taken. The vowel /a:/ is produced in monosyllabic /CVC/ forms by Najdi Saudi and American speakers. The goal of this study is to determine the effect of the voicing feature of the consonant on the preceding vowel in Najdi Arabic and American English by measuring the vowel duration. This study adopts some statistical analyses that might offer a novel perspective on speech recognition analysis.