The gradient effect of transitional magnitude: A source of the vowel context effect

The present study examines the role of transitional magnitude in the identification of consonant place. Transitions in the three vowels /u a e/ following the alveopalatal sibilant /ɕ/ in Polish were systematically manipulated and used as a gradient variable. In an identification task, native Polish speakers were given a choice between /ɕ/ and /ʂ/ for stimuli with varying levels of palatal transitions. The results showed that greater transitions elicit significantly more palatal responses in all vowel contexts. More interestingly, retracted vowels with greater palatal transitions were shown to provide more robust transitional cues than front vowels with weaker transitions.