FIG. 3.

(Color online) Flowchart of signal processing procedures implemented in the Praat software to create a continuum of speech sounds varying in spectral tilt at syllable onset. Each of five linearly sloped filters was applied to each step in the formant continuum. The result of that filtering was cross-faded into a uniform vowel nucleus from the original /ba/ sound that was not filtered. As a result, only the onset of the syllable was filtered, and it gradually morphed back into the unfiltered vowel.