Early exposure to non-native language alters preattentive vowel discrimination

Peltola, Maija S.; Kuntola, Minna; Tamminen, Henna; Hämäläinen, Heikki; Aaltonen, Olli

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2005.06.037

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Although, by using pseudoword stimuli the influence of semantics is excluded, two different pseudowords are still distinguished based on their contained phonemes and their analysis therefore involves phonetic processing. Winkler et al (1999) showed that phonetically distinctive, spectral vowel changes can elicit shorter MMN latencies than acoustically matched, non-distinctive, spectral vowel changes (for similar results see also Huotilainen et al, 2001;Peltola et al, 2005). The shorter latencies shown by the Finns therefore might secondly indicate increased phonetic processing elicited in the Finns compared to the Germans.…”

Section: Language Group Effects On Mmn Amplitudes and Latenciesmentioning

confidence: 72%

Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience

Kirmse

Ylinen

Tervaniemi

et al. 2007

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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While crucial for phoneme distinctions in the Finnish language, mere vowel duration is of lower relevance as a phonetically distinctive cue in the German language. To investigate the pre-attentive processing of vowel duration between these two languages, the mismatch negativity (MMN), a component of the auditory event-related potential (ERP) that is an index of automatic auditory change detection, was measured in Finnish and German native speakers for vowel duration changes embedded in the pseudoword sasa. Vowel duration changes thereby were presented as a shortening or a lengthening of either the first- or second-syllable vowel. An additional non-speech condition measured the MMN to duration and frequency changes in tones. In both language groups, diminished MMN amplitudes for the shortening of vowel duration in the word-final syllable suggested a generally more difficult discrimination of vowel duration in a word-final position. Further, shorter MMN latencies for the Finns than the Germans for vowel duration as well as tone duration deviants suggested a generally higher sensitivity to duration contrasts in the Finnish language group. No latency difference between the groups was found for tone frequency processing. Moreover, the Finns, but not the Germans, showed a leftward shift of the MMN scalp distribution for changes in vowel duration, whereas the MMN topography was highly similar between both groups in the tone condition. An enhanced phonetic processing of vowel duration changes and possibly an enhanced processing of sound duration in general is thus indicated for the Finns as a result of their extensive linguistic experience with phonetically distinctive vowel duration contrasts in the native language.

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Section: Language Group Effects On Mmn Amplitudes and Latenciesmentioning

confidence: 72%

Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience

Kirmse

Ylinen

Tervaniemi

et al. 2007

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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“…Cheour et al (2002) described the neural plasticity of young (3-6-year-old) Finnish children, who learned to discriminate preattentively a non-native vowel distinction in only two months after joining a French school or day care center. Also Peltola et al (2005) reported similar learning effects in children, who had participated in an immersion program at least for two years. These results suggest that children are able to learn to discriminate a difficult sound contrast fast and the learning effect can be seen in production as well as in the preattentive perceptual tasks.…”

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confidence: 63%

Children Learning a Non-native Vowel – The Effect of a Two-day Production Training

Taimi¹,

Jähi²,

Alku³

et al. 2014

JLTR

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Abstract-The aim of this study was to investigate, how young children learn to produce a non-native vowel embedded in a pseudo-word context after short and intensive listen-and-repeat training sessions. The trained vowel contrast was chosen so that it would generate maximal learning difficulties according to models of second language learning. The group consisted of 13 7-10 year old girls. The child subjects participated in the study twice, on two consecutive days. Both days consisted of two training and two recording sessions. The model stimuli were pseudo-words /ty:ti/ and /tʉ :ti/, synthesized using a semi-synthetic method. The primary target word was /tʉ :ti/, which contained the vowel phoneme phonologically irrelevant in Finnish. The two lowest formants and the fundamental frequency were analysed from the recorded vowels. The results revealed that children learned to produce the new vowel after only three training sessions and that the effect was also seen after the fourth session. These results suggest that children learn to produce a new vowel after a short period of phonetic training.

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“…For example, proficient Spanish−English bilinguals have a perceptual vowel space that resembles that of English monolinguals (Flege, Munro & Fox, 1994). Experience in L2 can lead to the reorganization of perceptual assimilation patterns (Best & Strange, 1992), especially in environments of full immersion where new memory traces and new category boundaries can be formed (Peltola, Kuntola, Tamminen, Hämäläinen & Aaltonen, 2005). The Speech Learning Model (SLM) developed by Flege (1995) proposes that the capacity to perceive and categorize new sounds remains intact throughout life.…”

Section: Proficiency Level (Pl) In Non-native Speech Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age of acquisition and proficiency in a second language independently influence the perception of non-native speech

et al. 2011

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Sensorimotor processing in children and higher-cognitive processing in adults could determine how non-native phonemes are acquired. This study investigates how age-of-acquisition (AOA) and proficiency-level (PL) predict native-like perception of statistically dissociated L2 categories, i.e., within-category and between-category. In a similarity task, participants rated the level of similarity between pairs of English syllables from 1 (similar) to 4 (dissimilar). Early L2 acquisition predicts accurate within-categorization and high proficiency in late L2 acquisition predicts improved between-categorization. Our results suggest that the manner in which bilinguals learn to categorize non-native sounds depends on the cognitive processes available at the age of L2 exposure.

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Early exposure to non-native language alters preattentive vowel discrimination

Cited by 29 publications

References 18 publications

Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience

Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience

Children Learning a Non-native Vowel – The Effect of a Two-day Production Training

Age of acquisition and proficiency in a second language independently influence the perception of non-native speech

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