scholarly journals Distributional Learning of Speech Sounds: An Exploratory Study Into the Effects of Prior Language Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-161
Author(s):  
Kateřina Chládková ◽  
Šárka Šimáčková
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Distributional Learning

Distributional Learning in Categorization of Speech and Non-Speech Sounds

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Kittleson ◽  
Jessamyn Schertz ◽  
Randy Diehl ◽  
Andrew J. Lotto
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Distributional Learning

scholarly journals The role of indexical cues in the distributional learning of phonetic categories.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla L. Hudson Kam
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
The Real ◽  
Distributional Learning ◽  
Distributional Cues ◽  
Phonetic Categories

Theories of the distributional learning of phonetic categories assume that input provides reliable distributional cues for the categorization of speech sounds. In the real world, however, not all talkers produce exactly the same distributions of speech sounds, and the talker-dependent variation may undermine the reliability of the distributional cues. In this study, we investigated how learners might overcome talker-dependent variation. Specifically, we tested whether adults can learn two phonetic categories from input in which talker-dependent variation introduces potential ambiguities into the categorization of speech sounds. The results suggest that they can overcome this kind of ambiguity by using indexical information (i.e., the identity of talkers).

scholarly journals Adult New Speakers of Welsh: Accent, Pronunciation and Language Experience in South Wales

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Meinir Williams ◽  
Sarah Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Community Perceptions ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
South Wales ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
L1 English

This study examines the experiences of adult new speakers of Welsh in Wales, UK with learning pronunciation in Welsh. Questionnaire data were collected from 115 adult L2 speakers with English as an L1 located in South Wales. We investigated self-reported perceptions of accent and pronunciation as well as exploring which speech sounds were reported to be challenging for the participants. We also asked participants how traditional native speakers responded to them in the community. Perceptions of own accent and pronunciation were not rated highly for the participants. We found an effect of speaker origin affected responses to perceptions of accent and pronunciation, as well as speaker learning level. In terms of speech sounds that are challenging, the results show that vowel length as well as the consonants absent in the L1 (English) were the most common issues reported. A range of responses from traditional native speakers were reported, including speaking more slowly, switching to English, correcting pronunciation or not responding at all. It is suggested that these results indicate that adult new speakers of Welsh face challenges with accent and pronunciation, and we discuss the implications of this for language teaching and for integration into the community.

scholarly journals Perception of Tone by Native Mandarin Chinese Listeners: Optimal Auditory Perception

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C.-J. Hung ◽  
Rong-fu Chung
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Category Discrimination ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Empirical Experiment ◽  
Task Types

Previous studies have found the perception of lexical tones associated with task types, acoustic/phonetic aspects of the tones, and language experience. But seldom has the interaction of these factors been studied. To fill the void, the present study, with an empirical experiment of 2x2x2 factorial design, investigated the perception of Mandarin tones by native listeners of Mandarin Chinese, who discriminated between pair-wise tone inputs from the right ear. The pair-wise stimuli consisted of familiar tonal contrasts versus unfamiliar contrasts. The stimuli were presented in speech sounds (i.e., real tones) versus in non-speech sounds (sinewave tones). The subjects were required to judge whether pair-wise tone tokens fitted into the same tone category (category discrimination) versus whether they were exactly identical (auditory discrimination). The study revealed that the perception of Mandarin tones is influenced significantly by task types and familiarity with the F0 contours. However, the effect of phonetics varies depending on the interaction of task types and familiarity with the F0 contours. The subjects performed better in nonspeech context than in speech context on two conditions: (1) in the category discrimination between familiar tonal contrasts, and (2) in the auditory (non-categorical) discrimination between unfamiliar tonal contrasts.

scholarly journals The effects of ethnicity, musicianship, and tone language experience on pitch perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2627-2642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Arthur G Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses

Language and music are intertwined: music training can facilitate language abilities, and language experiences can also help with some music tasks. Possible language–music transfer effects are explored in two experiments in this study. In Experiment 1, we tested native Mandarin, Korean, and English speakers on a pitch discrimination task with two types of sounds: speech sounds and fundamental frequency (F0) patterns derived from speech sounds. To control for factors that might influence participants’ performance, we included cognitive ability tasks testing memory and intelligence. In addition, two music skill tasks were used to examine general transfer effects from language to music. Prior studies showing that tone language speakers have an advantage on pitch tasks have been taken as support for three alternative hypotheses: specific transfer effects, general transfer effects, and an ethnicity effect. In Experiment 1, musicians outperformed non-musicians on both speech and F0 sounds, suggesting a music-to-language transfer effect. Korean and Mandarin speakers performed similarly, and they both outperformed English speakers, providing some evidence for an ethnicity effect. Alternatively, this could be due to population selection bias. In Experiment 2, we recruited Chinese Americans approximating the native English speakers’ language background to further test the ethnicity effect. Chinese Americans, regardless of their tone language experiences, performed similarly to their non–Asian American counterparts in all tasks. Therefore, although this study provides additional evidence of transfer effects across music and language, it casts doubt on the contribution of ethnicity to differences observed in pitch perception and general music abilities.

Classifying Disfluencies in Preschool- and School-Age Spanish–English Bilinguals Who Do Not Stutter: An Exploratory Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-130
Author(s):  
Raúl Rojas ◽  
Farzan Irani
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Total Percentage ◽  
Narrative Production ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Purpose This exploratory study examined the language skills and the type and frequency of disfluencies in the spoken narrative production of Spanish–English bilingual children who do not stutter. Method A cross-sectional sample of 29 bilingual students (16 boys and 13 girls) enrolled in grades prekindergarten through Grade 4 produced a total of 58 narrative retell language samples in English and Spanish. Key outcome measures in each language included the percentage of normal (%ND) and stuttering-like (%SLD) disfluencies, percentage of words in mazes (%MzWds), number of total words, number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words. Results Cross-linguistic, pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences with medium effect sizes for %ND and %MzWds (both lower for English) as well as for number of different words (lower for Spanish). On average, the total percentage of mazed words was higher than 10% in both languages, a pattern driven primarily by %ND; %SLDs were below 1% in both languages. Multiple linear regression models for %ND and %SLD in each language indicated that %MzWds was the primary predictor across languages beyond other language measures and demographic variables. Conclusions The findings extend the evidence base with regard to the frequency and type of disfluencies that can be expected in bilingual children who do not stutter in grades prekindergarten to Grade 4. The data indicate that %MzWds and %ND can similarly index the normal disfluencies of bilingual children during narrative production. The potential clinical implications of the findings from this study are discussed.

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