Production and perception of distortion in word-initial friction duration.

Unlabelled: The purpose of the present study was to investigate (a) the distortion in production of word-initial friction duration in fricative //, and (b) the perceptual discrimination between typical (normal) and atypical (prolonged or lengthened) friction duration. In the first experiment 80 school aged children pronounced word /uma/, 40 of them have had typical friction duration, 15 shortened and 25 lengthened duration of //, and all of them did not have any distortion in segment /uma/. Measurement and analysis of duration of both segments // and /uma/ were performed after segmentation of speech stimuli /uma/.