The secondary roles of amplitude and F0 in the perception of word-initial geminates in Kelantan Malay

This study examines the extent to which amplitude and F0 play secondary roles in perceptually cueing the word-initial singleton/geminate consonant contrast in Kelantan Malay (KM). Three voiceless stop word-pairs produced in isolation, i.e. utterance-initial position, were chosen for manipulation in three perception experiments involving KM native listeners. Results show that amplitude and F0 have limited perceptual functions on their own, although the combined values of the two parameters do have some effect on the perception of the consonant contrast. These results are expected for the utterance-initial voiceless stop pairs given the absence of closure duration information as a perceptual cue in this context. The findings support the view that the consonant length distinction in word-initial position, particularly for voiceless stops, can be potentially cued by a set of secondary parameters, e.g. amplitude and F0, alongside the primary acoustic parameter of closure duration