25 research outputs found
Cross-language Differences in Fricative Processing and Their Influence on Non-native Fricative Categorisation
Studies have shown that native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and Hong Kong Cantonese tend to have difficulty perceiving the English fricative /θ/. However, although both languages have /f/ and /s/ categories, Mandarin speakers tend to assimilate it to their /s/ category whilst Cantonese speakers would assimilate it to their /f/ category. Over three studies, this thesis investigated various factors that may lead to this difference, while enhancing our understanding of the acoustics and the perception of the fricatives of these languages. Study 1 explored acoustic properties of target fricatives of the three languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, English) using audio recordings from native speakers, and conducted comparisons of the fricatives within and across languages. The results showed that the phonemes /f s/, even though shared by the three languages, were produced differently in the different languages, likely due to the effects of the different fricative inventories. Moreover, different acoustic cues were more or less effective in distinguishing between the different fricatives in each language, indicating that native speakers of these languages likely rely on these cues differently. Study 2 examined how transition cues may affect the identification of /f/ and /s/ by native speakers of the respective languages by combining a phoneme monitoring task and EEG measures. Target fricatives were spliced with vowels to create stimuli with congruent or incongruent transitions. In contrast to previous studies (e.g., Wagner, Ernestus & Cutler, 2006), the results revealed that all groups attended to formant transitions when processing fricatives, despite their differing native fricative inventory sizes. Study 3 investigated cross-language differences in categorisation boundaries of target fricative pairs using a behavioural identification task. The study interpolated pairs of stimuli to create a frication continuum and a vowel continuum, forming a 2-dimensional stimuli grid. The results indicated that frication was the primary cue for fricative identification for the native English, Cantonese, and Mandarin speakers, but also revealed cross-language differences in fricative boundaries. Overall, the results of these studies demonstrate that the processing of fricatives was largely driven by the frication section, and the differential assimilation of /θ/ was likely due to the different acoustics of the same fricative category across languages. The results also motivate a reconsideration of the role of coarticulatory cues in fricative perception
On the Perceptual Organization of Speech
A general account of auditory perceptual organization has developed in the past 2 decades. It relies on primitive devices akin to the Gestalt principles of organization to assign sensory elements to probable groupings and invokes secondary schematic processes to confirm or to repair the possible organization. Although this conceptualization is intended to apply universally, the variety and arrangement of acoustic constituents of speech violate Gestalt principles at numerous junctures, cohering perceptually, nonetheless. The authors report 3 experiments on organization in phonetic perception, using sine wave synthesis to evade the Gestalt rules and the schematic processes alike. These findings falsify a general auditory account, showing that phonetic perceptual organization is achieved by specific sensitivity to the acoustic modulations characteristic of speech signals
Language, perception and production in profoundly deaf children
Prelingually profoundly deaf children usually experience problems
with language learning (Webster, 1986; Campbell, Burden & Wright,
1992). The acquisition of written language would be no problem for
them if normal development of reading and writing was not
dependent on spoken language (Pattison, 1986). However, such
children cannot be viewed as a homogeneous group since some, the
minority, do develop good linguistic skills.
Group studies have identified several factors relating to language skills:
hearing loss and level of loss, I.Q., intelligibility, lip-reading, use of
phonology and memory capacity (Furth, 1966; Conrad, 1979; Trybus &
Karchmer, 1977; Jensema, 1975; Baddeley, Papagno & Vallar, 1988;
Baddeley & Wilson, 1988; Hanson, 1989; Lake, 1980; Daneman &
Carpenter,1980). These various factors appear to be interrelated, with
phonological awareness being implicated in most. So to understand
behaviour, measures of all these factors must be obtained. The present
study aimed to achieve this whilst investigating the prediction that
performance success may be due to better use of phonological
information.
Because linguistic success for the deaf child is exceptional, a case study
approach was taken to avoid obscuring subtle differences in
performance. Subjects were screened to meet 6 research criteria:
profound prelingual deafness, no other known handicap, English the
first language in the home, at least average non-verbal IQ , reading age
7-9 years and inter-subject dissimilarities between chronological reading
age discrepancies. Case histories were obtained from school
records and home interviews. Six subjects with diverse linguistic skills
were selected, four of which undertook all tests.
Phonological awareness and development was assessed across several
variables: immediate memory span, intelligibility, spelling, rhyme
judgement, speech discrimination and production. There was
considerable inter-subject performance difference. One boy's speech
production was singled out for a more detailed analysis. Useful aided hearing and consistent contrastive speech appear to be implicated in
other English language skills.
It was concluded that for phonological awareness to develop, the deaf
child must receive useful inputs from as many media as possible (e.g.,
vision, audition, articulation, sign and orthography). When input is
biassed toward the more reliable modalities of audition and
articulation, there is a greater possibility of a robust and useful
phonology being derived and thus better access to the English language