1,826 research outputs found
On segments and syllables in the sound structure of language: Curve-based approaches to phonology and the auditory representation of speech.
http://msh.revues.org/document7813.htmlInternational audienceRecent approaches to the syllable reintroduce continuous and mathematical descriptions of sound objects designed as ''curves''. Psycholinguistic research on oral language perception usually refer to symbolic and highly hierarchized approaches to the syllable which strongly differenciate segments (phones) and syllables. Recent work on the auditory bases of speech perception evidence the ability of listeners to extract phonetic information when strong degradations of the speech signal have been produced in the spectro-temporal domain. Implications of these observations for the modelling of syllables in the fields of speech perception and phonology are discussed.Les approches récentes de la syllabe réintroduisent une description continue et descriptible mathématiquement des objets sonores: les courbes. Les recherches psycholinguistiques sur la perception du langage parlé ont plutôt recours à des descriptions symboliques et hautement hiérarchisées de la syllabe dans le cadre desquelles segments (phones) et syllabes sont strictement différenciés. Des travaux récents sur les fondements auditifs de la perception de la parole mettent en évidence la capacité qu'ont les locuteurs à extraire une information phonétique alors même que des dégradations majeures du signal sont effectuées dans le domaine spectro-temporel. Les implications de ces observations pour la conception de la syllabe dans le champ de la perception de la parole et en phonologie sont discutées
Neural Modeling and Imaging of the Cortical Interactions Underlying Syllable Production
This paper describes a neural model of speech acquisition and production that accounts for a wide range of acoustic, kinematic, and neuroimaging data concerning the control of speech movements. The model is a neural network whose components correspond to regions of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, including premotor, motor, auditory, and somatosensory cortical areas. Computer simulations of the model verify its ability to account for compensation to lip and jaw perturbations during speech. Specific anatomical locations of the model's components are estimated, and these estimates are used to simulate fMRI experiments of simple syllable production with and without jaw perturbations.National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01 DC02852, RO1 DC01925
Production and perception of speaker-specific phonetic detail at word boundaries
Experiments show that learning about familiar voices affects speech processing in many tasks. However, most studies focus on isolated phonemes or words and do not explore which phonetic properties are learned about or retained in memory. This work investigated inter-speaker phonetic variation involving word boundaries, and its perceptual consequences. A production experiment found significant variation in the extent to which speakers used a number of acoustic properties to distinguish junctural minimal pairs e.g. 'So he diced them'—'So he'd iced them'. A perception experiment then tested intelligibility in noise of the junctural minimal pairs before and after familiarisation with a particular voice. Subjects who heard the same voice during testing as during the familiarisation period showed significantly more improvement in identification of words and syllable constituents around word boundaries than those who heard different voices. These data support the view that perceptual learning about the particular pronunciations associated with individual speakers helps listeners to identify syllabic structure and the location of word boundaries
Syllable frequency effects in immediate but not delayed syllable naming in English
<p>Syllable frequency effects in production tasks are interpreted as evidence that speakers retrieve precompiled articulatory programs for high frequency syllables from a mental syllabary. They have not been found reliably in English, nor isolated to the phonetic encoding processes during which the syllabary is thought to be accessed. In this experiment, 48 participants produced matched high- and novel/low-frequency syllables in a near-replication of Laganaro and Alario’s [(2006) On the locus of the syllable frequency effect in speech production. <i>Journal of Memory and Language, 55</i>(2), 198–196, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.05.001" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.05.001</a>] production conditions: immediate naming, naming following an unfilled delay, and naming after delay filled by concurrent articulation. Immediate naming was faster for high frequency syllables, demonstrating a robust syllable frequency effect in English. There was no high frequency advantage in either delayed naming condition, leaving open the question of whether syllable frequency effects arise during phonological or phonetic encoding.</p
Stress assignment in reading Italian polysyllabic pseudowords.
In four naming experiments we investigated how Italian readers assign stress to pseudowords. We assessed whether participants assign stress following distributional information such as stress neighborhood (the proportion and number of existent words sharing orthographic ending and stress pattern) and whether such distributional information affects naming speed. Experiments 1 and 2 tested how readers assign stress to pseudowords. The results showed that participants assign stress on the basis of the pseudowords\u27 stress neighborhood, but only when this orthographic/phonological information is widely represented in the lexicon. Experiments 3 and 4 tested the naming speed of pseudowords with different stress patterns. Participants were faster in reading pseudowords with antepenultimate than with penultimate stress. The effect was not driven by distributional information, but it was related to the stage of articulation planning. Overall, the experiments showed that, under certain conditions, readers assign stress using orthographic/phonological distributional information. However, the distributional information does not speed up pseudoword naming, which is affected by stress computation at the level of the articulation planning of the stimulus. It is claimed that models of reading aloud and speech production should be merged at the level of phonological encoding, when segmental and metrical information are assembled and articulation is planned
Individual Phonological Awareness Intervention for Children with Phonetically-Based Reading Difficulties
Many researchers have reported that phonological awareness training is highly related to the acquisition of pre-reading skills (Ball & Blachman, 1991; Lundberg, Frost, & Peterson, 1988) and that phonological awareness should be a part of any good reading curriculum (Adams, 1990; Blachman, 1989). In addition, when phonological awareness is taught in the classroom it has been proven that class averages of phonological awareness skills improve (Blachman, 1991; Barnes, Smitley, & Throneburg, 1998). However, the research also suggests that students with speech and/or language disorders often exhibit poor reading skills (Gillam & Carlile, 1997; Menyuk & Chestnick, 1997). The purpose of the current study was to determine if phoneme awareness and blending/segmenting skills of three first grade children with speech/language disorders improved after individual phonological awareness training. The three subjects were involved in a classroom based phonological awareness program during their kindergarten year, but their scores were greater than one standard deviation below the class mean. During 8 weeks of individual training, the percentage for accuracy of phoneme awareness and blending increased significantly in all three subjects
L2 speech learning of European Portuguese /l/ and /ɾ/ by L1-Mandarin learners: experimental evidence and theoretical modelling
It has been long recognized that the poor distinction between /l/ and /ɾ/ is one
of the most perceptible characteristics in Chinese-accented Portuguese. Recent
empirical research revealed that this notorious L2 speech learning difficulty
goes beyond the confusion between two L2 categories, as L1-Mandarin learners’
acquisition of Portuguese /l/ and /ɾ/ seems to be subject to the interaction
among different prosodic positions, speech modalities and representational
levels. This thesis aims to deepen our current understanding of this L2 speech
learning process, by exploring what constrains the development of L2
phonological categories across syllable positions and how different modalities
interact during this process. To achieve this goal, both experimental tasks and
theoretical modelling were employed.
The first study of this thesis explores the role of cross-linguistic influence
and orthography on L2 category formation. In order to elicit cross-linguistic
influence directly, a delayed-imitation task was performed with L1-Mandarin
naïve listeners. This task examined how the Mandarin phonology parses the
Portuguese input ([l], [ɾ]) in intervocalic onset and in word-internal coda
position. Moreover, whether orthography plays a role during the construction
of L2 phonological representation was tested by manipulating the input types
that were given in the experiment (auditory input alone vs. auditory + written
input). Our study shows that naïve Mandarin listeners’ responses corroborated
with that of L1-Mandarin learners, suggesting that cross-linguistic influence is
responsible for the observed L2 prosodic effects. Moreover, the Mandarin [ɻ] (a
repair strategy for /ɾ/) occurred almost exclusively when the written form was
given, providing evidence for the cross-linguistic interaction between
phonological categorization and orthography during the construction of L2
categories.
In the second study, we first investigate the interaction between speech
perception and production in L2 speech learning, by examining whether the L2
deviant productions stem from misperception and whether the order of
acquisition in L2 speech perception mirrors that in production. Secondly, we
test whether L2 phonological categories remain malleable at a mid-late stage of
L2 speech learning. Two perceptual experiments were performed to test L1-Mandarin learners on their discrimination ability between the target
Portuguese form and the deviant form employed in L2 production. Expanding
on prior research, in this study, the perceptual motivation for L2 speech
difficulties was assessed in different syllable constituents (onset and coda) and
at both segmental and suprasegmental levels (structural modification). The
results demonstrate that some deviant forms observed in L2 production indeed
have a perceptual motivation ([w] for the velarised lateral; [l] and [ɾə] for the
tap), while some others cannot be attributed to misperception (deletion of
syllable-final tap). Furthermore, learners confused the intervocalic /l/ and /ɾ/
bidirectionally in perception, while in production they never misproduced the
lateral (/ɾ/ → [l], */l/ → [ɾ]), revealing a mismatch between two speech
modalities. By contrast, the order of acquisition (/ɾ/coda > /ɾ/onset) was shown to
be consistent in L2 perception and production. The correspondence and
discrepancy between the two speech modalities signal a complex relationship
between L2 speech perception and production. To assess the plasticity of L2
categories /l/ and /ɾ/, two groups of L1-Mandarin learners who differ
substantially in terms of L2 experience were recruited in the perceptual tasks.
Our study shows that both groups behaved similarly in terms of the
discrimination performance. No evidence for a role of L2 experience was found.
The implication of this null result on L2 phonological development is discussed.
The third study of the thesis aims to contribute to bridging the gap between
the L2 experimental evidence and formal theories. Adopting the Bidirectional
Phonology and Phonetics Model, we formalise some of the experimental
findings that cannot be elucidated by current L2 speech theories, namely, the
between and within-subject variation in L2 phonological categorization; the
interaction between phonological categorization and orthography during L2
category construction; and the asymmetry between L2 perception and
production.
Overall, this thesis sheds light on the complex nature of L2 phonological
acquisition and provides a formal account of how different modalities interact
in shaping L2 speech learning. Moreover, it puts forward testable predictions
for future research and suggestions for improving foreign language
teaching/training methodologies.É bem conhecido o facto de as trocas associadas a /l/ e /ɾ/ constituírem uma
das caraterísticas mais percetíveis no português articulado pelos aprendentes
chineses. Recentemente, estudos empíricos revelam que a dificuldade por parte
dos aprendentes chineses não se restringe à discriminação moderada entre as
duas categorias da L2, dado que a aquisição de /l/ e /ɾ/ do português por
aprendentes chineses parece estar sujeita à interação entre contextos
prosódicos, entre modalidades de fala e entre níveis representacionais
diferentes. Esta tese visa aprofundar a nossa compreensão deste processo da
aquisição fonológica L2, explorando o que condiciona o desenvolvimento das
categorias fonológicas L2 em diferentes constituintes silábicos e de que modo
as modalidades interagem durante este processo, recorrendo para tal a tarefas
experimentais bem como a formalização teórica.
O primeiro estudo averigua o papel da influência interlinguística e o da
ortografia na construção das categorias de L2. Para elicitar a influência
interlinguística diretamente, uma tarefa de imitação retardada foi aplicada aos
falantes nativos do mandarim sem conhecimento de português, investigando
assim como a fonologia do mandarim categoriza o input do português ([l], [ɾ])
em ataque simples intervocálico e em coda medial. Para além disso, a influência
ortográfica na construção de representações fonológicas em L2 foi examinada
através da manipulação do tipo do input apresentado na experiência (input
auditivo vs. input auditivo + ortográfico). Os resultados da situação
experimental em que os participantes receberam input de ambos os tipos
replicaram o efeito prosódico observado na literatura, evidenciando a interação
entre categorização fonológica e ortografia na construção das categorias de L2.
No segundo estudo, investigamos a interação entre a perceção e a produção
de fala na aquisição das líquidas do PE por aprendentes chineses e a
plasticidade destas categorias fonológicas, respondendo às questões seguintes:
1) as produções desviantes de L2 resultam da perceção incorreta? 2) a ordem
da aquisição em L2 é consistente na perceção e na produção? 3) as categorias
da L2 permanecem maleáveis numa fase intermédia da aquisição? Duas tarefas
percetivas foram conduzidas para testar a capacidade percetiva dos
aprendentes nativos do mandarim em relação à discriminação entre a forma
alvo do português e as formas desviantes utilizadas na produção. No presente
estudo, a motivação percetiva das dificuldades em L2 foi testada nos constituintes silábicos diferentes (ataque simples e coda) e nos níveis segmental e suprassegmental (modificação estrutural). Os resultados demonstram que algumas formas desviantes que os aprendentes chineses produzem têm uma
motivação percetiva (i.e. [w] para a lateral velarizada; [l] e [ɾə] para a vibrante
alveolar), enquanto outras não podem ser analisadas como casos de perceção
incorreta (como é o caso do o apagamento da vibrante em coda). Para além
disso, na posição intervocálica, os aprendentes manifestam dificuldade na
discriminação entre /l/ e /ɾ/ de forma bidirecional, mas, na produção, a lateral
nunca é produzida incorretamente (/ɾ/ → [l], */l/ → [ɾ]). Tal revela uma
divergência entre as duas modalidades de fala. Por contraste, mostrou-se que a
ordem da aquisição (/ɾ/coda > /ɾ/ataque) é consistente na perceção e na produção
da L2. A correspondência e a discrepância entre as duas modalidades de fala,
sinalizam uma relação complexa entre a perceção e a produção na aquisição
fonológica de L2. Em relação à questão da plasticidade das categorias de L2,
recrutaram-se para as tarefas percetivas dois grupos de aprendentes nativos do
mandarim que se diferenciavam substancialmente em termos da experiência
em L2. Não se encontrou um efeito significativo da experiência da L2. A
implicação deste resultado nulo no desenvolvimento fonológico de L2 foi
discutida.
O terceiro estudo desta tese tem como objetivo contribuir para a
colmatação das lacunas entre estudos empíricos de L2 e as teorias formais.
Adotando o Modelo Bidirecional de Fonologia e Fonética, formalizamos os
resultados experimentais que as teorias atuais da aquisição fonológica de L2
não conseguem explicar, nomeadamente, a variação inter e intra-sujeitos na
categorização fonológica em L2; a interação entre categorização fonológica e
ortografia na construção das categorias na L2; a assimetria entre a perceção e a
produção na L2.
Em suma, esta tese contribui com dados empíricos para a discussão da
relação complexa entre a perceção, produção e ortografia na aquisição
fonológica de L2 e formaliza a interação entre essas modalidades através de um
modelo linguístico generativo. Além disso, apresentam-se predições testáveis
para investigação futura e sugestões para o aperfeiçoamento das metodologias
de ensino/treino da língua não materna
Effect of Word and Syllable Frequency on Activation During Lexical Decision and Reading Aloud
This functional MRI (fMRI) study investigated the effect of lexical and syllable frequency on visual word processing during lexical decision and reading aloud. Previous research has shown a dissociation of syllable and word frequency effects in Spanish using behavioral and electrophysiological measures, suggesting that sublexical (syllabic) representations are computed and mediate the firing of lexical candidates. Here, we characterize the neuroanatomical basis of these lexical and sublexical manipulations and their dependence on task. During lexical decision, words with low vs. high lexical frequency increased activation in left frontal, anterior cingulate, supplemental motor area (SMA), and pre-SMA regions; while words with high vs. low syllable frequency increased activation in a left anterior inferior temporal region. In contrast, when the words were read aloud those with low vs. high syllable frequency increased activation in the left anterior insula, with no other significant effects. On the basis of the neuroanatomy, we propose that the contrasting effects of syllable frequency during lexical decision and reading aloud reflect two different cognitive processes in visual word processing. Specifically, words with high-frequency syllables may increase lexical competition in the inferior temporal lobe while facilitating articulatory planning in the left anterior insula. Hum Brain Mapp, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc
Speech Communication
Contains reports on five research projects.C.J. LeBel FellowshipKurzweil Applied IntelligenceNational Institutes of Health (Grant 5 T32 NS07040)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 R01 NS04332)National Science Foundation (Grant 1ST 80-17599)Systems Development FoundationU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-82-K-0727
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