scholarly journals The minimal word in Seri

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Marlett
Keyword(s):  
Minimal Word

The S-SH Confusion Test and the Effects of Frequency Lowering

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1486-1505
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Nonlinear Frequency ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Frequency Compression ◽  
Negative Side ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Low Pass ◽  
Negative Side Effects

PurposeFrequency lowering in hearing aids can cause listeners to perceive [s] as [ʃ]. The S-SH Confusion Test, which consists of 66 minimal word pairs spoken by 6 female talkers, was designed to help clinicians and researchers document these negative side effects. This study's purpose was to use this new test to evaluate the hypothesis that these confusions will increase to the extent that low frequencies are altered.MethodTwenty-one listeners with normal hearing were each tested on 7 conditions. Three were control conditions that were low-pass filtered at 3.3, 5.0, and 9.1 kHz. Four conditions were processed with nonlinear frequency compression (NFC): 2 had a 3.3-kHz maximum audible output frequency (MAOF), with a start frequency (SF) of 1.6 or 2.2 kHz; 2 had a 5.0-kHz MAOF, with an SF of 1.6 or 4.0 kHz. Listeners' responses were analyzed using concepts from signal detection theory. Response times were also collected as a measure of cognitive processing.ResultsOverall, [s] for [ʃ] confusions were minimal. As predicted, [ʃ] for [s] confusions increased for NFC conditions with a lower versus higher MAOF and with a lower versus higher SF. Response times for trials with correct [s] responses were shortest for the 9.1-kHz control and increased for the 5.0- and 3.3-kHz controls. NFC response times were also significantly longer as MAOF and SF decreased. The NFC condition with the highest MAOF and SF had statistically shorter response times than its control condition, indicating that, under some circumstances, NFC may ease cognitive processing.ConclusionsLarge differences in the S-SH Confusion Test across frequency-lowering conditions show that it can be used to document a major negative side effect associated with frequency lowering. Smaller but significant differences in response times for correct [s] trials indicate that NFC can help or hinder cognitive processing, depending on its settings.

The Influence of Three Phonological Rules of Black English on the Discrimination of Minimal Word Pairs

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baran ◽  
Harry N. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Word Pair ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Phonological Rules

Minimal word pairs that are presumed to be perceptually difficult to differentiate when spoken in black English were examined relative to (1) black children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of their own word pair productions and those of other blacks and whites and (2) white children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of word pairs produced by black children. Perceptual errors were significantly greater for whites listening to word pairs produced by blacks than for blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, or whites. No significant differences were found among blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, and whites. Perceptual errors followed predictable patterns that were influenced by three phonological rules of black English. Also, the data suggest that there are phonemic cues that are imperceptible to non-black-English speakers which allow black-English speakers to differentiate word pairs.

The velar glide in Axininca Campa

Phonology ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cari Spring
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Data ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Minimal Quantity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Better Than

Black (1991) proposes that the failure of Velar Glide Deletion in some contexts motivates an iambic typology in which a disyllabic iamb is better than a monosyllabic iamb. Velar Glide Deletion in Axininca fails when a demotion on the iambic scale would result from its application. However, empirical findings from epenthesis, the regressive marker, augmentation and comparative data from Caquinte Campa argue against this analysis. It is important to note the relationship between the assumption that the root + suffix constitutes theprosodicdomain of Velar Glide Deletion, as argued by the typological analysis, and the conclusion that Velar Glide Deletion fails when a monosyllabic foot would result from a disyllabic one. If the suffix is abandoned as part of the prosodic domain for computing Velar Glide Deletion, the root alone is the prosodic domain prohibiting Velar Glide Deletion. In the latter case, the minimal word blocking Deletion is a regular, minimal quantity-sensitive foot.

scholarly journals Characterization of two-distance sequences

1992 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Lunnon ◽  
P. A. B. Pleasants
Keyword(s):  
Formal Languages ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Beatty Sequences ◽  
Straight Lines ◽  
Symbol Sequences ◽  
Number Of Authors

AbstractThree differently defined classes of two-symbol sequences, which we call the two-distance sequences, the linear sequences and the characteristic sequences, have been discussed by a number of authors and some equivalences between them are known. We present a self-contained proof that the three classes are the same (when ambiguous cases of linear sequences are suitably in terpreted). Associated with each sequence is a real invariant (having a different appropriate definition for each of the three classes). We give results on the relation between sequences with the same invariant and on the symmetry of the sequences. The sequences are closely related to Beatty sequences and occur as digitized straight lines and quasicrystals. They also provide examples of minimal word proliferation in formal languages.

scholarly journals Spoken word recognition in a second language: The importance of phonetic details

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110306
Author(s):  
Félix Desmeules-Trudel ◽  
Tania S. Zamuner
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spoken Word Recognition ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Canadian French ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Vowel Nasalization

Spoken word recognition depends on variations in fine-grained phonetics as listeners decode speech. However, many models of second language (L2) speech perception focus on units such as isolated syllables, and not on words. In two eye-tracking experiments, we investigated how fine-grained phonetic details (i.e. duration of nasalization on contrastive and coarticulatory nasalized vowels in Canadian French) influenced spoken word recognition in an L2, as compared to a group of native (L1) listeners. Results from L2 listeners (English-native speakers) indicated that fine-grained phonetics impacted the recognition of words, i.e. they were able to use nasalization duration variability in a way similar to L1-French listeners, providing evidence that lexical representations can be highly specified in an L2. Specifically, L2 listeners were able to distinguish minimal word pairs (differentiated by the presence of phonological vowel nasalization in French) and were able to use variability in a way approximating L1-French listeners. Furthermore, the robustness of the French “nasal vowel” category in L2 listeners depended on age of exposure. Early bilinguals displayed greater sensitivity to some ambiguity in the stimuli than late bilinguals, suggesting that early bilinguals had greater sensitivity to small variations in the signal and thus better knowledge of the phonetic cue associated with phonological vowel nasalization in French, similarly to L1 listeners.

Geminates and weight-manipulating phonology in Chuukese (Trukese)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Davis
Keyword(s):  
Theoretic Analysis ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Compensatory Lengthening

One of the main controversies regarding the phonology of geminates is whether geminates are best represented as being underlyingly moraic or as being a single consonant linked to two C-slots. One language that has played a major role in the discussion of geminate representation is the Micronesian language Chuukese, also known as Trukese. After reviewing the arguments for the moraic representation of Chuukese geminates, this chapter develops a comprehensive optimality-theoretic analysis of Chuukese quantity-manipulating phonology that includes an analysis of initial geminates, final mora deletion, syllable weight, the minimal word effect, compensatory lengthening, geminate throwback, and cases of variation.

The acquisition of noun inflection in Northern Pame (Xi'iuy): Comparing whole word and minimal word accounts

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Clifton PYE ◽  
Scott BERTHIAUME ◽  
Barbara PFEILER
Keyword(s):  
Class Number ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Adult Type ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Singular Noun ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Whole Word

Abstract The study used naturalistic data on the production of nominal prefixes in the Otopamean language Northern Pame (autonym: Xi'iuy) to test Whole Word (constructivist) and Minimal Word (prosodic) theories for the acquisition of inflection. Whole Word theories assume that children store words in their entirety; Minimal Word theories assume that children produce words as binary feet. Northern Pame uses obligatory portmanteaux prefixes to inflect nouns for class, number, animacy and possessor. Singular nouns constitute 90 percent of the nouns that the children hear and yet all five two-year-old children frequently omitted the singular noun prefixes, but produced the low frequency noun suffixes for dual and animate plural. Neither the children's production of the noun-class prefixes nor their prefix overextensions correlated with the adult type and token frequencies of production. Northern Pame children constructed Minimal Words that contain binary feet and disfavor the production of initial, extrametrical prefixes.

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