Acoustic Analysis of Consonant Clusters in Different Phonetic Environments

This study investigates the acoustic properties of consonant clusters in varied phonetic environments, focusing on how preceding and following vowel quality and syllable position affect the temporal and spectral characteristics of clusters. A total of five English consonant clusters (/st, sp, sk, tr, pl/) were embedded in carrier phrases and nonce words, situated in initial, medial, and final syllable positions, and paired with different vowel contexts (high front /iː/ vs. low back /ɑː/). Recordings from 20 native speakers of General American English were analyzed to measure cluster duration, voice onset time (VOT), spectral tilt, and formant transitions. Results indicate that cluster duration and spectral characteristics vary significantly depending on vowel context and syllable position: clusters preceding high front vowels tend to show shorter overall duration and steeper spectral tilt compared to low-back vowel contexts. Moreover, medial clusters exhibited greater temporal reduction than initial or final clusters, suggesting contextual coarticulatory influences. The study provides evidence that phonetic environment plays a critical role in shaping the realization of consonant clusters, with potential implications for phonological theory, second-language acquisition, and speech synthesis.