Speech variation has been hypothesized to reflect both speaker-internal influences of lexical access on production and adaptive modifications to make words more intelligible to the listener. The current study considers categorical and gradient variation in the production of word-final schwa in French as explained by lexical access processes, phonological, and/or listener-oriented influences on speech production, while controlling for other factors. To that end, native French speakers completed two laboratory production tasks. In Experiment 1, speakers produced 32 monosyllabic words varying in lexical frequency in a word list production task with no listener feedback. In Experiment 2, speakers produced the same words to an interlocutor while completing a map task varying listener comprehension success across trials: in half the trials, the words are correctly perceived by the interlocutor; in half, there is misunderstanding. Results reveal that speakers are more likely to produce word-final schwa when there is explicit pressure to be intelligible to the interlocutor. Also, when schwa is produced, it is longer preceding a consonant-initial word. Taken together, findings suggest that there are both phonological and clarity-oriented influences on word-final schwa realization in French.

据推测，语音变化既反映了说话者内部词汇访问对产生的影响，又反映了适应性修改，以使听者更容易理解单词。当前的研究考虑了法语中词尾 schwa 产生的分类和梯度变化，如词汇访问过程、语音和/或面向听众的对语音产生的影响所解释的，同时控制其他因素。为此，法语母语人士完成了两项实验室生产任务。在实验 1 中，说话者在单词列表生成任务中生成了 32 个词汇频率各异的单音节单词，没有听众反馈。在实验 2 中，说话者在完成地图任务时向对话者发出相同的单词，不同试验中听众的理解成功程度不同：在一半的试验中，对话者正确地理解了这些词语；一半，有误会。结果表明，当有明确的压力要求对话者能够理解时，说话者更有可能发出最终的 schwa。此外，当产生 schwa 时，它位于辅音开头单词之前。总而言之，研究结果表明，法语中词尾 schwa 的实现既有语音方面的影响，也有以清晰度为导向的影响。