Interaction of fundamental frequency contour and segment duration in the production and perception of Norwegian

The aim of this study is to explore the interplay of fundamental frequency contour and the production and perception of segment duration in Norwegian. Production patterns were investigated in a case study involving one speaker producing isolated words and a database study analyzing speech material from 220 speakers. Measurements revealed inconsistent effects of word accent on segment duration, accent 2 vs. 1 tending to give rise to longer durations in isolated words but shorter durations in words extracted from sentence context. Regression analyses investigating the relation between f0 rise or fall in a vowel and the duration of such f0 movements showed that word accent was not a contributing factor. In a perception test, the vowel of a disyllabic word was manipulated to create a short-long vowel continuum. Manipulation of f0 contours showed that a falling vs. a flat or rising contour in the first syllable caused perceptual lengthening of the vowel. Changing the second syllable’s original rising f0 contour into a falling one shortened the first syllable perceptually when its contour was falling but had the opposite effect for a flat or rising contour.