Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers ... more Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners' success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English-and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners' language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals' exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization task. Differences in how, and not only when, a language was acquired may influence listener sensitivity to more difficult cues, and the advantage for phonemic cues may reflect the greater salience of categories unique to each language. Implications for foreign-accent categorization and cross-language speech perception are discussed, and future directions are outlined to better understand how salience varies across language-specific phonemic and phonetic cues.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Oct 23, 2014
Listeners adapt quickly to changes in accent (Bradlow & Bent, 2003; Clarke & Garrett, 2004; inter... more Listeners adapt quickly to changes in accent (Bradlow & Bent, 2003; Clarke & Garrett, 2004; inter alia). The cause of this brief delay may be due to the cost of processing accented speech, or may reflect a surprise effect associated with task expectations (Floccia et al., 2009). The present study examines a link between accent familiarity and processing delays with listeners who have varying degrees of familiarity with target languages: monolingual Texans with little or no formal exposure to Spanish, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and Korean learners of English. Participants heard four blocks of English sentences –Blocks 1 and 4 were produced by two native speakers of American English, and Blocks 2 and 3 were produced by native speakers of Spanish or Korean– and responded to written probe words. All listener groups responded more slowly after an accent change; however, the degree of delay varied with language proficiency. L1 Korean listeners were less delayed by Korean-accented speech than the other listeners, while changes to Spanish-accented speech were processed most slowly by Spanish-English bilinguals. The results suggest that adaptation to foreign-accented speech depends on language familiarity and task expectations. The processing delays are analyzed in light of intelligibility and accentedness measures.
Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers ... more Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners' success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English-and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners' language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals' exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization task. Differences in how, and not only when, a language was acquired may influence listener sensitivity to more difficult cues, and the advantage for phonemic cues may reflect the greater salience of categories unique to each language. Implications for foreign-accent categorization and cross-language speech perception are discussed, and future directions are outlined to better understand how salience varies across language-specific phonemic and phonetic cues.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Oct 23, 2014
Listeners adapt quickly to changes in accent (Bradlow & Bent, 2003; Clarke & Garrett, 2004; inter... more Listeners adapt quickly to changes in accent (Bradlow & Bent, 2003; Clarke & Garrett, 2004; inter alia). The cause of this brief delay may be due to the cost of processing accented speech, or may reflect a surprise effect associated with task expectations (Floccia et al., 2009). The present study examines a link between accent familiarity and processing delays with listeners who have varying degrees of familiarity with target languages: monolingual Texans with little or no formal exposure to Spanish, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and Korean learners of English. Participants heard four blocks of English sentences –Blocks 1 and 4 were produced by two native speakers of American English, and Blocks 2 and 3 were produced by native speakers of Spanish or Korean– and responded to written probe words. All listener groups responded more slowly after an accent change; however, the degree of delay varied with language proficiency. L1 Korean listeners were less delayed by Korean-accented speech than the other listeners, while changes to Spanish-accented speech were processed most slowly by Spanish-English bilinguals. The results suggest that adaptation to foreign-accented speech depends on language familiarity and task expectations. The processing delays are analyzed in light of intelligibility and accentedness measures.
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