Production, perception, and comprehension of subphonemic detail

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The complexities of speech production, perception, and comprehension are significant, particularly regarding subphonemic differences. This dissertation aims to establish a solid foundation of findings on these differences, focusing on word-final /s/ and /z/ in English, which serve various morphological functions. Three main issues are explored: the existence of subphonemic durational differences among types of word-final /s/, their perceptibility, and their impact on comprehension. Five controlled studies are conducted, including a production task, Linear Discriminative Learning implementation, a same-different task, and two number-decision tasks, utilizing both real words and pseudowords to mitigate confounding effects of lexical storage. Results indicate notable durational differences: non-morphemic /s/ has the longest duration, clitic /s/ the shortest, and plural /s/ falls in between. These differences correlate with a word's semantic activation diversity and phonological certainty. Additionally, subphonemic durational differences can be perceived, especially when differing by 35 ms or more. However, while these differences do not significantly affect the speed of comprehension, they do influence the comprehension process itself. The findings suggest a need to revise existing models of speech production, perception, and comprehension.