The effect of experience on the acquisition of a non-native vowel contrast

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Simon ◽  
Tijs D’Hulster
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Contrast

Big and thin; two Diola-Fogny meta-linguistic terms

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Sapir
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Linguistic Terms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Speech Variation

ABSTRACTThe Diola-Fogny of Sénégal, West Africa, socially intuit with the meta-linguistic terms ‘big’ and ‘thin’ the tense/lax vowel contrast that is basic to their phonology. The two terms are primarily used to identify speech variation among individuals and groups. Examination revealed that speakers who made relatively greater use of vowel harmony were characterized as ‘big’ in contrast to others who were thought of as ‘thin’ speakers. The ‘big’/‘thin’ distinction provides the Fogny with one means by which they place the speech of an individual. In addition, this meta-linguistic device either is used to express indirectly the social place of an alter vis-à-vis an ego in terms of simple sameness or difference, or, when more than two people are involved, in terms of some form of segmentary opposition. (Sénégal, meta-linguistics, social interaction, phonology.)

Stimulus variability and perceptual learning of nonnative vowel categories

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANÇOISE BROSSEAU-LAPRÉ ◽  
SUSAN RVACHEW ◽  
MEGHAN CLAYARDS ◽  
DANIEL DICKSON
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Category Boundary ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Training Effects ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Training Conditions ◽  
Stimulus Variability ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Vowel Categories

ABSTRACTEnglish-speakers' learning of a French vowel contrast (/ə/–/ø/) was examined under six different stimulus conditions in which contrastive and noncontrastive stimulus dimensions were varied orthogonally to each other. The distribution of contrastive cues was varied across training conditions to create single prototype, variable far (from the category boundary), and variable close (to the boundary) conditions, each in a single talker or a multiple talker version. The control condition involved identification of gender appropriate grammatical elements. Pre- and posttraining measures of vowel perception and production were obtained from each participant. When assessing pre- to posttraining changes in the slope of the identification functions, statistically significant training effects were observed in the multiple voice far and multiple voice close conditions.

New contrast acquisition: methodological issues and theoretical implications

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER NYCZ
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word List ◽  
Low Back ◽  
City Region ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Vowel Contrast

This article presents data on the acquisition of the low back vowel contrast by native speakers of Canadian English who have moved as adults to the New York City region, examining how these speakers who natively possess a single low back vowel category have acquired the low back vowel distinction of the new ambient dialect. The speakers show remarkable first dialect stability with respect to their low back vowel system, even after many years of new dialect exposure: in minimal pair contexts, nearly all of the speakers continue to produce and perceive a single vowel category. However, in word list and conversational contexts, the majority of speakers exhibit a small but significant phonetic difference between words like cot and caught, reflecting the separation of these word classes in the new dialect to which they are exposed; moreover, the realization of these words shows frequency effects consistent with a lexically gradual divergence of the two vowels. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of phonological representation and change, as well as their methodological implications for the study of mergers- and splits-in-progress.

Does Early Speech Discrimination Predict Language Ability?

2008 ◽  
Vol 139 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. P101-P101
Author(s):  
Jonathan Y Ting ◽  
Derek M Houston ◽  
Richard T Miyamoto
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Research Award ◽  
Communicative Development ◽  
Clinical Tools ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Visual Habituation

Problem There is a paucity of instruments available to assess speech discrimination in normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) infants. We assess the utility of a hybrid visual habituation paradigm (HVHP) in assessing speech discrimination and predicting later language ability. Methods NH infants were tested with the HVHP on an easier vowel contrast or a more difficult fricative contrast. Parents completed Macarthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) when infants were 14,18,24, and 30 months old to assess correlations between discrimination abilities and later language ability. Similarly, HVHP and CDI measures were obtained from HI infants at following hearing aid (HA) or cochlear implant (CI) use. Results 29% of NH infants significantly discriminated the vowel contrast. 6% of NH infants significantly discriminated the fricative contrast. Effect size of fricative discrimination at 9 months correlated with early gestures (n=10), r=.73 p=.02, and later gestures (n=10, r=.81 p = .01), at 14 months of age. HI infants tested on the vowel contrast at 3 months of HA use demonstrated significant correlations of effect size of discrimination with phrases understood at 6 months of HA use (n=4, r=.96, p=0.04) and vocabulary production at 9 months of HA use (n=5, r=.90, p=0.04). Conclusion The HVHP can be used with various contrasts to assess the speech discrimination abilities of NH and HI infants. While data collection is ongoing, it appears that performance on the HVHP may correlate with later language outcomes in both NH and HI infants. Significance This study assesses the utility of the HVHP in assessing speech discrimination, and is a step towards developing clinical tools to assess the progress of HI infants following early intervention. Support Supported by a 2007 AAO-HNSF Resident Research Award and NIH grant R01DC6235 to Indiana University.

Weighing factors responsible for the production of the Catalan vowel /ɛ/ versus /e/ contrast in three districts of Barcelona

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1264-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Cortés ◽  
Conxita Lleó ◽  
Ariadna Benet
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Auditory Analysis ◽  
High Degree

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study investigates the sociolinguistic factors associated with the maintenance or loss of the mid-front vowel contrast in the Catalan spoken by Spanish-Catalan bilinguals in three districts of Barcelona. It addresses the following questions. (1) Is the mid-front vowel contrast kept in all the districts under study? Do we find differences across districts and/or age groups? (2) Is an auditory analysis of our data further supported by an acoustic analysis? (3) Which sociolinguistic factors help us predict whether the contrast is kept or lost? Design/methodology/approach: Participants in this study were 36 bilingual children and 36 bilingual adults who completed a picture-naming task. Participants lived in Gràcia/Eixample (two districts with a low degree of Spanish presence) or in Nou Barris (a district with a high degree of Spanish presence). Data and analysis: The production of words with target /ɛ/ and with target /e/ by each participant was recorded along with the answers to a sociolinguistic questionnaire. The spoken data were auditorily and acoustically analysed, and then statistically analysed in relation to different sociolinguistic factors that could account for the maintenance or loss of this vowel contrast. Findings/conclusions: Significant differences were found in the production of children across districts but not in that of adults. The children in Nou Barris show an advanced merger between /ɛ/ and /e/. The language in the environment seems to be the main factor, as the merger or maintenance of the contrast correlates with the language spoken by our participants’ peer group and close relatives. Originality: This research combines both an auditory and acoustic analysis of phonological data with sociolinguistic information about speakers from different districts in Barcelona. Significance/implications: This paper contributes to a better understanding of phonological variation within Barcelona and the sociolinguistic factors that are responsible for variation among its population.

Covariation of Cochlear Implant Users' Perception and Production of Vowel Contrasts and Their Identification by Listeners With Normal Hearing

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1257-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennell C. Vick ◽  
Harlan Lane ◽  
Joseph S. Perkell ◽  
Melanie L. Matthies ◽  
John Gould ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Enhanced Production ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Perceptual Contrast ◽  
Acoustic Space ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Phoneme Identification

This study investigates covariation of perception and production of vowel contrasts in speakers who use cochlear implants and identification of those contrasts by listeners with normal hearing. Formant measures were made of seven vowel pairs whose members are neighboring in acoustic space. The vowels were produced in carrier phrases by 8 postlingually deafened adults, before and after they received their cochlear implants (CI). Improvements in a speaker's production and perception of a given vowel contrast and normally hearing listeners' identification of that contrast in masking noise tended to occur together. Specifically, speakers who produced vowel pairs with reduced contrast in the pre-CI condition (measured by separation in the acoustic vowel space) and who showed improvement in their perception of these contrasts post-CI (measured with a phoneme identification test) were found to have enhanced production contrasts post-CI in many cases. These enhanced production contrasts were associated, in turn, with enhanced masked word recognition, as measured from responses of a group of 10 normally hearing listeners. The results support the view that restoring self-hearing allows a speaker to adjust articulatory routines to ensure sufficient perceptual contrast for listeners.

Articulatory-to-Acoustic Relations in Talkers With Dysarthria: A First Analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 576-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Mefferd
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Tongue Displacement ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Fast Rates

Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to determine the strength of interspeaker and intraspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations of vowel contrast produced by talkers with dysarthria and controls. Methods Six talkers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), six talkers with Parkinson's disease (PD), and 12 controls repeated a sentence at typical, slow, and fast rates. Tongue displacements and acoustic vowel distances were measured to determine articulatory and acoustic vowel contrasts. Results Interspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations were strong for talkers with PD and controls but weak for talkers with ALS and controls. Further, predominantly moderate and strong intraspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations were found in response to rate modulations; however, correlation coefficients were significantly lower in talkers with ALS than in controls. Conclusions The findings on interspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations suggested that the degree of tongue displacement can be accurately inferred from the degree of acoustic vowel contrast in talkers with PD but not in talkers with ALS. Findings on intraspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations generally supported the longstanding notion that speaking rate–induced changes in tongue displacement evoke similar changes in acoustic vowel contrast. Differential effects of the pathophysiology on inter- and intraspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations are discussed.

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