Perception of Geminates in Finnish and Polish

Finnish and Polish subjects judged four series of two-syllable stimuli varying in intervocalic consonant duration as short (singleton) or long (geminate). The four series differed in the durations of the flanking vowels. As predicted, perception shifted toward geminates for Finnish subjects when V1 was lengthened, especially when V2 was also shortened, to match normal Finnish production. The shift also occurred for Finnish subjects when V1:V2 ratio was kept constant. Any effect of lengthened stimuli on perceived tempo, expected to produce a geminate boundary shift in the opposite direction, was smaller than the V1-effect. We also hypothesised that Polish subjects would show a similar pattern in perception, given that, like Finnish, Polish has slightly longer vowels before geminates. Polish listeners did present a clear sensitivity to flanking vowel durations but the observed shifts in geminate boundaries for the four stimulus series were almost exactly reversed compared to the Finnish subjects.