Investigating The Lexical Support In Non-Native English Speakers Using The Phonemic Restoration Paradigm

Samuel and Frost (2015) investigated the differences between native and non-native English speakers’ lexical influence in speech perception. Using the selective adaptation method, the study showed that lexical support was weaker in less language proficient non-native speakers than native speakers; however, lexical support became stronger in more proficient non-native speakers. The present study investigated the lexical support in speech perception between native and non-native English speakers. Unlike the method used by Samuel and Frost (2015), the present study used the phonemic restoration paradigm. The benefit of using this method is to investigate the difference between native and non-native speakers in perceptually restoring missing phonemes. It was hypothesized that native speakers will show a higher phonemic restoration effect than non-native speakers, as well as greater sensitivity to the phoneme position in a word. In the current study, a group of native speakers and a group of non-native speakers participated in a phonemic restoration task. Both groups were presented with four-syllable stimuli words with one phoneme either replaced with white noise (replacement condition), or white noise added on that phoneme (added condition) in either the third syllable or the forth syllable, followed by an intact version of the same word. Participants rated the degradation of the manipulated word compared to its intact version. Results showed that both native and non-native speakers rated the added versions of the word more similar to the intact version than the replaced version. In addition, both native and non-native speakers rated the manipulated (i.e., added or replaced) versions of the word more similar to the intact version when the manipulated phoneme was in the fourth syllable than when the manipulated phoneme was in the third syllable. However, non-native speakers rated the replaced versions of manipulated words as similar to the intact versions as the native English speakers

Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed

The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications for the reframing of the motor theory

Variation in the perception of an L2 contrast : a combined phonetic and phonological account

The present study argues that variation across listeners in the perception of a non-native contrast is due to two factors: the listener-specic weighting of auditory dimensions and the listener-specic construction of new segmental representations. The interaction of both factors is shown to take place in the perception grammar, which can be modelled within an OT framework. These points are illustrated with the acquisition of the Dutch three-member labiodental contrast [V v f] by German learners of Dutch, focussing on four types of learners from the perception study by Hamann and Sennema (2005a)

Individual variability in the perceptual learning of L2 speech sounds and its cognitive correlates

This study explored which cognitive processes are related to individual variability in the learning of novel phonemic contrasts in a second language. 25 English participants were trained to perceive a Korean stop voicing contrast which is novel for English speakers. They were also presented with a large battery of tests which investigated different aspects of their perceptual and cognitive abilities, as well as pre- and posttraining tests of their ability to discriminate this novel consonant contrast. The battery included: adaptive psychoacoustic tasks to determine frequency limens, a paired-association task looking at the ability to memorise the pairing of two items, a backward digit span task measuring working memory span, a sentence perception in noise task that quantifies the effect of top-down information as well as signal detection ability, a sorting task investigating the attentional filtering of the key acoustic features. The general measures that were the most often correlated with the ability to learn the novel phonetic contrast were measures of attentional switching (i.e. the ability to reallocate attention), the ability to sort stimuli according to a particular dimension, which is also somewhat linked to allocation of attention, frequency acuity and the ability to associate two unrelated events

A Study of the Assimilative Behavior of the Voiced Labio-Dental Fricative in American English

Gradation is one of the main features of colloquial speech. It implies the presence of certain phonological processes that ease the transition between phonemes with different articulatory features. For English, one of these implied processes is assimilation, which is when the articulation of a segment is modified into another one already existing in the system. Our study takes Gimson (1994)’s suggestion that /v/ assimilates into /m/ when it is followed by the bilabial nasal. After observing and describing different cases of assimilation, we suggest more possible explanations to this phenomenon and more assimilative behaviors of /v/. Therefore, we conduct an experiment with six American- English L1s where they evaluate sentences whose articulation includes our suggested proposals. The results show Gimson’s theory not to be as accurate as expected. Furthermore, we prove that /v/ can assimilate into /b/, /ɂ/ and /d/ when it is followed by bilabial, velar and alveolar phonemes.La gradación es una de las características más significativas del lenguaje coloquial. Esta implica la presencia de ciertos procesos fonológicos que facilitan la transición entre fonemas con distintas articulaciones. En el caso del inglés, uno de estos procesos es la asimilación, que consiste en cambiar la articulación de un segmento por la de otro existente en el sistema. Este estudio se basa en la propuesta de Gimson (1994), por la que /v/ se asimila a /m/ cuando le sigue la bilabial nasal. Tras observar y describir más casos de asimilación, nos planteamos distintos comportamientos asimilativos de /v/ en este y otros contextos, que fueron evaluados por medio de un experimento realizado a seis nativos de inglés-americano. Los resultados muestran que la teoría de Gimson no es tan apropiada como se esperaba. Además, concluimos que /v/ puede asimilar a /b/, /ɂ/ y /d/ cuando le siguen ciertos sonidos bilabiales, velares y alveolares.Grado en Estudios Inglese

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

Comparison of word-, sentence, and phoneme-based training strategies in improving the perception of spectrally-distorted speech

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of three self-administered strategies for auditory training that might improve speech perception by adult users of cochlear implants. The strategies are based, respectively, on discriminating isolated words, words in sentences, and phonemes in nonsense syllables. Method: Participants were 18 normally-hearing adults who listened to speech processed by a noise-excited vocoder to simulate the information provided by a cochlear implant. They were assigned randomly to word-, sentence-, or phoneme-based training and underwent nine 20-minute training sessions on separate days over a 2-3-week period. The effectiveness of training was assessed as the improvement in accuracy of discriminating vowels and consonants, and identifying words in sentences, relative to participants’ best performance in repeated tests prior to training. Results: Word- and sentence-based training led to significant improvements in the ability to identify words in sentences that were significantly larger than the improvements produced by phoneme-based training. There were no significant differences between the effectiveness of word- and sentence-based training. No significant improvements in consonant or vowel discrimination were found for the sentence- or phoneme-based training groups, but some improvements were found for the word-based training group. Conclusions: The word- and sentence-based training strategies were more effective than the phoneme-based strategy at improving the perception of spectrally-distorted speech