Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Evidence of Cognate Effects in the Phonetic Production and Processing of a Vowel Contrast.

The present study examines cognate effects in the phonetic production and processing of the Catalan back mid-vowel contrast (/o/-/ɔ/) by 24 early and highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals in Majorca (Spain). Participants completed a picture-naming task and a forced-choice lexical decision task in which they were presented with either words (e.g., /bɔsk/ "forest") or non-words based on real words, but with the alternate mid-vowel pair in stressed position ((*)/bosk/). The same cognate and non-cognate lexical items were included in the production and lexical decision experiments. The results indicate that even though these early bilinguals maintained the back mid-vowel contrast in their productions, they had great difficulties identifying non-words and real words based on the identity of the Catalan mid-vowel. The analyses revealed language dominance and cognate effects: Spanish-dominants exhibited higher error rates than Catalan-dominants, and production and lexical decision accuracy were also affected by cognate status. The present study contributes to the discussion of the organization of early bilinguals' dominant and non-dominant sound systems, and proposes that exemplar theoretic approaches can be extended to include bilingual lexical connections that account for the interactions between the phonetic and lexical levels of early bilingual individuals

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

The acquisition of Sign Language: The impact of phonetic complexity on phonology

Research into the effect of phonetic complexity on phonological acquisition has a long history in spoken languages. This paper considers the effect of phonetics on phonological development in a signed language. We report on an experiment in which nonword-repetition methodology was adapted so as to examine in a systematic way how phonetic complexity in two phonological parameters of signed languages — handshape and movement — affects the perception and articulation of signs. Ninety-one Deaf children aged 3–11 acquiring British Sign Language (BSL) and 46 hearing nonsigners aged 6–11 repeated a set of 40 nonsense signs. For Deaf children, repetition accuracy improved with age, correlated with wider BSL abilities, and was lowest for signs that were phonetically complex. Repetition accuracy was correlated with fine motor skills for the youngest children. Despite their lower repetition accuracy, the hearing group were similarly affected by phonetic complexity, suggesting that common visual and motoric factors are at play when processing linguistic information in the visuo-gestural modality

Oral Dictionary

Oral Dictionary application is developed with aim to enhance the existing dictionary, therefore promote flexibility in English dictionary usage through implementation of speech recognition technology. Speech recognition addresses an effective and faster way for word definition searching as word input is retrieved through human's voice, regardless the knowledge on the word spelling where current dictionary relies to. Capability of providing pronunciation playback based on phonetically British English standard overcome the major limitation of current English dictionary. The application is using the text-to-speech (TTS) technology which is different from other commercial dictionary software who use to record each sample of word. In dealing with homophone words (words having similar pronunciation but different spelling), the system successfully provide an approach to reduce the misrecognition. The approach is by providing possible matches, relevant to the phonetic matching of the word. Oral dictionary also offers hassle-free solution to users who only want to hear the pronunciation of the word without having to search throughout the dictionary. Currently, the scope of Oral Dictionary only cover 100 words, within the noun context and using British English (Br.E) standard, as it is English language correctly spoken or written. The application is developed using the combination of vocabulary collection process and incremental delivery model. The major processes involve in vocabulary collection process are words collection, syllabification and ASCII-phonetic transcription. Process activities in Oral Dictionary application will then follow the incremental model which allows system to be reworked in response to change request. Since the output speed is critical, binary search tree algorithm is chosen as best data structure to be implemented in this application to improve the searching time performance. Procedures to obtain the result of the system effectiveness are discussed in this paper, where product evaluation I testing is conducted to two groups of users and the result on searching time comparison, misrecognition rate, verification on British-English standard, system functionality and overall system interface design are discussed in detail throughout this paper

Deconstructing Speech: new tools for speech manipulation

My research at the London College of Communication is concerned with archives of recorded speech, what new tools need to be devised for its manipulation and how to go about this process of invention. Research into available forms of analysis of speech is discussed below with regard to two specific areas, feature vectors from linear predictive coding (LPC) analysis and hidden Markov-model-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. These are discussed in order to demonstrate that whilst aspects of each may be useful in devising a system of speech-archive manipulation for artistic use. Their drawbacks and deficiencies for use in art – consequent of the reasons for their invention – necessitate the creation of tools with artistic, rather than engineering agendas in mind. It is through the initial process of devising conceptual tools for understanding speech as sound objects that I have been confronted with issues of semiotics and semantics of the voice and of the relationship between sound and meaning in speech, and of the role of analysis in mediating existing methods of communication. This is discussed with reference to Jean-Jacques Nattiez’s Music and Discourse: Towards a Semiology of Music (Nattiez 1987). The ‘trace’ – a neutral level of semiotic analysis proposed by Nattiez, far from being hypothetical as suggested by Hatten (1992: 88–98) and others, is present by analogy to many forms of mediation in modern spoken communication and the reproduction of music, and it is precisely this neutrality with regards to meaning that tools for manipulation of speech must possess, since the relationships between the sound of speech and its meaning are ‘intense’ (after Deleuze 1968