An Acoustic and Electroglottographic (EGG) Investigation of Preaspiration and Voice Quality in the Italian Four-Way Stop Contrast across Regional Accents

Abstract

This preliminary study explores the effects of consonant voicing and gemination on preaspiration and voice quality patterns of stops in Italian, a language that features considerable cross-regional variability in the phonetic realization of its fourway stop contrast. Five speakers, each from a different Italian region, produced /maC(ː)a/ words. Findings of an acoustic and dynamic electroglottographic (EGG) analysis reveal that voiceless stops consistently lead to a breathier voice quality in the final 30% of the preceding vowel, while there is no overall effect of gemination on vowel voice quality. Voiceless preaspiration varies by region: Northern speakers preaspirate both voiceless geminat..