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Vowel normalization is a computation that is meant to account for the differences in the absolute direct (physical or psychophysical) representations of qualitatively equivalent vowel productions that arise due to differences in speaker properties such as body size types, age, gender, and other socially interpreted categories that are based on natural variation in vocal tract size and shape. In this dissertation, we address the metaphysical and epistemological aspects of vowel normalization pertaining to spoken language acquisition during early infancy. We begin by reviewing approaches to conceptualizing and modeling the phonetic components of early spoken language acquisition, forming a catalog of phenomena that serves as the basis for our discourse. We then establish the existence of a vowel normalization computation carried out by infants early in their spoken language acquisition, and put forward a conceptual and technical framework for its investigation which focuses attention on the generative nature of the computation. We then situate the acquisition of vowel normalization within a broader developmental framework encompassing a suite of vocal learning phenomena, including language-specific caretaker vocal exchanges

Selected papers from the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics

The papers in this volume were presented at the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics at UC Berkeley in 2016. The papers offer new descriptions of African languages and propose novel theoretical analyses of them. The contributions span topics in phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics and reflect the typological and genetic diversity of languages in Africa. Four papers in the volume examine Areal Features and Linguistic Reconstruction in Africa, and were presented at a special workshop on this topic held alongside the general session of ACAL

Cognitive factors in perception and imitation of Thai tones by Mandarin versus Vietnamese speakers

The thesis investigates how native language phonological and phonetic factors affect non-native lexical tone perception and imitation, and how cognitive factors, such as memory load and stimulus variability (talker and vowel context variability), bias listeners to a phonological versus phonetic mode of perception/imitation. Two perceptual experiments and one imitation experiment were conducted with Thai tones as the stimuli and with Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners, who had no experience with Thai (i.e., naive listeners/imitators). The results of the perceptual experiments (Chapters 5 and 6) showed phonological effects as reflected in assimilation types (Categorised vs. UnCategorised assimilation) and phonetic effects indicated by percent choice and goodness ratings in tone assimilation, largely in line with predictions based on the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best, 1995). In addition, phonological assimilation types and phonological overlap of the contrasts affected their discrimination in line with predictions based on PAM. The thesis research has revealed the influence of cognitive factors on native language influences in perception and imitation of non-native lexical tones, which contribute differently to different tasks. The findings carry implications for current non-native speech perception theories. The fact that non-native tone imitation deviations can be traced back to native phonological and phonetic influences on perception supports and provides new insights about perception-production links in processing non-native tones. The findings uphold the extrapolation of PAM and ASP principles to non-native tone perception and imitation, indicating that both native language phonological and phonetic influences and their modulation by cognitive factors hold implications for non-native speech perception/learning theories, as well as for second language instruction