On the phonetics of geminates: evidence from Cypriot Greek

This paper examines the acoustic correlates of the geminate consonants of Cypriot Greek. Several measurements were obtained, including target segment duration, preceding vowel duration and quality, RMS for the geminates themselves, and voice quality differences in their production. It was found that for the segments whose duration can be most easily prolonged (i.e. /l/, nasals and fricatives) the most robust and consistent cue to gemination is length. In the case of stops, affricates and /r/, on the other hand, there are additional cues in the manner of articulation of the segments, with /r/ turning into a trill, and the stops and the affricate becoming aspirated. However, preliminary results from the other cues investigated suggest that gemination does not have a consistent effect on them either within or across speakers.