The duration of speech segments as a function of position in utterances (initial, medial, final) was studied. Seven English speakers read nonsense utterances of the form “say a bab, say a babab, say a babab,” etc. Spectrograms were used to determine the duration of speech segments in the readings. Final syllables were found to be longer than nonfinal syllables. Final‐syllable vowel increments were about 100 msec. Final‐syllable consonant increments were less than vowel increments, for instance, 20 msec for absolute final consonants. Also word‐initial consonants were found to be lengthened by 20–30 msec. It is suggested that durational studies in general should be interpreted in the light of findings concerning position‐in‐utterance lengthening. Explanations of lengthening effects are discussed. One theory suggests that lengthening in certain utterance positions is a learned aspect of languages which cues listeners concerning the segmentation of utterances into words, phrases, or sentences. Explanations based on hypothesized properties of the articulatory control system are also discussed.