Perception and production of English stops by tonal and non-tonal Korean dialect speakers

Abstract

This study examines whether relative weightings of voice onset time and onset F0 in Korean tonal vs non-tonal dialects affect the production and perception of English voiced and voiceless stops. Following Shultz et al. [(2012). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 132, EL95-EL101], discriminant function analysis and logistic regression were conducted to calculate each speaker's relative weightings of these two cues in the production of target words and the labeling of the synthesized tokens according to these cues, respectively. The results demonstrated that the acquisition of second language (L2) contrasts is influenced by native language dialects, and production and perception are not developed in parallel in L2 acquisition.

Individual Differences in Categorical Judgment of L2 Stops: A Link to Proficiency and Acoustic Cue-Weighting

“…In the leftmost top panel, the VOT curve based on the fixed effect coefficient switched from /d/ to /t/ relatively faster (i.e., steeper slope) than the F0 curve did. This suggests that the L1 Korean learners of L2 English, on average, were more sensitive to VOT than to F0 in differentiating /d/ from /t/ in the L2 English stop identification, consistent with the results of Choi et al. (2013) and Kong and Yoon (2013).…”

“…In the leftmost top panel, the VOT curve based on the fixed effect coefficient switched from /d/ to /t/ relatively faster (i.e., steeper slope) than the F0 curve did. This suggests that the L1 Korean learners of L2 English, on average, were more sensitive to VOT than to F0 in differentiating /d/ from /t/ in the L2 English stop identification, consistent with the results of Choi et al (2013) and Kong and Yoon (2013). The model output of the logistic mixedeffects regression presented significant beta coefficients for both VOT and F0 although the VOT coefficient was greater than that of F0 (β VOT = 4.309, SE = .320, p < .001; β F0 = 1.974, SE = .146, p < .001, as summarized in Table 1).…”

Attentional Modulation and Individual Differences in Explaining the Changing Role of Fundamental Frequency in Korean Laryngeal Stop Perception

“…To address the aforementioned linguistic inquiries, we examined whether each of the VOT and F0 cues was modulated by attentional resources by deliberately exposing listeners to distracting listening conditions. Unlike the existing perception studies investigating relative perceptual cue weightings with the Korean stops (Choi, Kim, Han, 2013; Francis et al, 2008; Holt & Lotto, 2006; Kang, 2010; Kim, 2004; Kingston & Diehl, 1994; Kong et al, 2011; Lee et al, 2013; Repp, 1983; Schertz et al, 2015; Summerfield & Haggard, 1977), we considered listeners’ cognitive interaction with acoustic information in explaining the primacy of multiple phonetic cues and attempted to illuminate the variability in individual listeners’ strategies in using multiple cues. Gordon et al (1993) pointed out that primary and secondary cues require different degrees of attention to recognize a phonemic category such that a primary cue demands greater attention than a secondary cue.…”