[en] The acoustic properties of French nasal vowels differ strongly from those of their oral counterpart. Nasal coupling induces a general damping of energy, and complementary articulations (lip rounding, tongue retraction) lead to the lowering of F2.
This study concerns identification and discrimination perceptual experiments that have been run (i) to test the relevance of these acoustic cues for the detection of the [nasal] contrast; (ii) to address the issue of the perceptual integration (vs independence) of the acoustic dimensions. Results show that the differences in the oral articulations are as much a part of the contrast as the soft palate lowering. Moreover, the covariation of nasal coupling and oral articulations largely increases the perceptual distance between vowels for French listeners.
