(/b/ → /p/) bul ⅂ (/p/ → /b/)
P. J. Price, Leigh Lisker · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1979
Much research has been devoted to the quest for invariant features in sets of speech or speechlike sounds that are perceived as somehow “the same.” Yet the acoustic invariance of phonemes is far from demonstrated. Relevant to the acoustic invariance question is an observed asymmetry in the effect of closure manipulation on naturally produced tokens of rapid and rabid. Thus, shortening the /p/ closure has relatively little effect, while lengthening the silenced /b/ closure produces a decisive shift in labeling. [The support of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is gratefully acknowledged.]