Abstract
This study examines the effect of the duration of vowels that precede or follow a geminate stop on the identification of the geminate consonant. Stimuli were made by lengthening or shortening the first and second /a/ in /uta(Q)tane/ while the length of the geminate stop was systematically modified. Twenty-four Japanese speakers were presented with these stimuli and were asked to judge whether or not each stimulus contains /Q/. The results revealed the significant effects of the duration of both the preceding and following vowels. It is also suggested that the VC unit may play a role in the perception of a geminate stop in Japanese.
