Session Perception II:Perception II: Cross-Language
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Perception II-1 |
Clear speech intelligibility: Listener and talker effects
Rajka Smiljanic, Linguistics, Northwestern University Ann Bradlow, Linguistics, Northwestern University Paper File |
In this study, we investigated whether the intelligibility-enhancing mode of speech production, known as “clear speech” produced by native and non-native talkers influenced speech intelligibility equally for native and non-native listeners. We explored the effect of clear speech for various talker and listener pairs in three experiments. In experiment 1, non-native listeners listened to their second language produced by native talkers. In experiment 2, native listeners listened to their native language produced by non-native talkers. In experiment 3, non-native listeners listened to their second language produced by non-native talkers. Combined, the results showed that “native” speech is overall more intelligible than “foreign” accented speech for both native and non-native listeners. Importantly, the proportional intelligibility gain for clear speech produced by both native and non-native talkers was similar across listener groups suggesting common speech processing strategies across all talker-listener groups. | |
Perception II-2 |
Native and Non-Native Perceptual Dialect Similarity Spaces
Cynthia G. Clopper, Ohio State University Ann Bradlow, Northwestern University Paper File |
The current study examined the role of native language on the perceptual similarity space of regional dialect variation. Native and non-native speakers of American English were asked to group a set of talkers by regional dialect in a free classification task. The two listener groups exhibited similar dialect classification strategies and perceptual similarity structures. However, the non-native listeners were less accurate overall than the native listeners and relied heavily on a few salient acoustic cues to make their classifications. These results suggest that non-native listeners can use lawful variation in the acoustic signal to make dialect classification judgments, but that cultural and linguistic familiarity also play a role in shaping perceptual dialect categories. | |
Perception II-3 |
Pairwise Perceptual Magnet Effects
Kathleen Currie Hall, The Ohio State University Paper File |
This paper explores the role of familiarity in speech perception. It is argued that “perceptual magnet effects” (the warping of the perceptual space by prototypical exemplars of a category) can be extended to the perception of pairs of sounds. Specifically, a prototypical exemplar of a contrast (that is, an instantiation of a contrast involving prototypical members of the pair) will be more perceptually distinct than a non-prototypical exemplar of the same phonological contrast. Conversely, a prototypical exemplar of an allophonically related pair will be perceptually less distinct than a non-protoypical exemplar of the same pair. | |