Vowel length impact on locus equation parameters : An investigation on Jordanian Arabic

International audience Investigations of changes in speech rate and speaking style have reported that locus equation parameters are sensible to temporal variation though they usually do not evidence any ma-jor impact on place of articulation classification. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of vowel length con-trasts on locus equation parameters in Jordanian Arabic (JA) speech production in order to study the influence of intrinsic temporal changes (vowel length contrasts) on locus equation parameters. Statistical analyses of slopes and intercepts show that the locus equation parameters of a consonant produced with long vowels are significantly different from those of the same consonant produced with short vowels. Though this obseva-tion confirms the impact of time variations on locus equations, further analyses will need to address issues related to the po-tential impact of duration-related spectral modifications and the role these changes may play on the perceptual categorization of consonantal place of articulation.