Réduction de la coarticulation et vieillissement

Reduction in coarticulation and aging In the course of life, speech varies with respect to children’s development but also with respect to aging. Besides the temporal and spectral modifications already attested, this study aims to investigate the effect of aging on vowel to vowel anticipatory coarticulation in French. This effect is tested according to vowel duration and to differences in regional varieties. Data from 167 speakers distributed across three age groups (20-39) (50-69) (70-79) and four regional varieties are investigated. The influence of V2 (/a/ or /i/) on V1 (/a/) is measured as a lowering of F1 and a rise of F2. Results show that coarticulation and vowel duration varies with regional variety and that vowels of older speakers are lengthened. More interestingly, results show a reduction of coarticulation with age. MOTS-CLES : Coarticulation V à V ; vieillissement ; variété régionale du français