Abstract
Italian is subject to regional variation in the phonetic realization of phonological features [2]. This study examines the duration of the phonemic quantity and voicing contrast of Italian stop consonants produced by speakers from South Tyrol. Speakers were recorded once in a soundproof booth and once in a cold chamber to additionally test whether speech patterns were affected by cold temperature.This allows us to test the stability of patterns observed and to investigate whether temperature has asystematic effect on speech as is the case for speech under other kinds of stress. The main correlates of the singleton/geminate contrast were stop closure and preceding vowel duration, in line with previous studies on Standard Italian [4]. Release duration was longer for velar consonants compared to apical and bilabial stops, consistent with results reported for voiceless geminates [18]. No systematic temperature effect was observed.