Training-induced pattern-specific phonetic adjustments by first and second language listeners

Abstract

The current study investigated the phonetic adjustment mechanisms that underlie perceptual adaptation in first and second language (Dutch-English) listeners by exposing them to a novel English accent containing controlled deviations from the standard accent (e.g. /i/-to-/ɪ/ yielding /krɪm/ instead of /krim/ for ‘cream’). These deviations involved contrasts that either were contrastive or were not contrastive in Dutch. Following accent exposure with disambiguating feedback, listeners completed lexical decision and word identification tasks. Both native and second language listeners demonstrated adaptation, evidenced by higher lexical endorsement rates and word identification accuracy than untrained control listeners for items containing trained accent patterns. However, for L2 listeners, adaptation was modulated by the phonemic contrast, that is, whether or not it was contrastive in the listeners’ native language. Specifically, the training-induced criterion loosening for the L2 listeners was limited to contrasts that exist in both their L1, Dutch, and L2, English. For contrasts that are either absent or neutralized in Dutch, the L2 listeners demonstrated relatively loose pre-training criteria compared to L1 listeners. The results indicate that accent exposure induces both a general increase in tolerance for atypical speech input as well as targeted adjustments to specific categories for both L1 and L2 listeners.

Lexically Guided Perceptual Learning of a Vowel Shift in an Interactive L2 Listening Context

“…For participants to change their phonemic boundaries on the basis of just 16 critical accented words in the Code Breaker game thus requires a substantial amount of pretest exposure to be unlearned. Strengthening the evidence for the vowel shift during the interactive game-whether by increasing the number of critical trials or by incorporating additional accented vowels to form a chain shift as in [7] and [8]-would probably increase the lexically driven adaptation.…”

“…As for a full vowel shift, one study showed that English listeners exposed to 20 minutes of synthesized speech with systematic front vowel lowering adapted their lexical decision judgments in accordance with the vowel change [7]. Another study showed that both Dutch and native English listeners adapted to a series of lowered front vowel shifts heard in 72 training items in a manipulated English accent [8]. Whether adaptation to a vowel shift can also occur with more limited exposure than in [7] and [8], given the relative instability of the perceptual adaptation in [6], remains to be seen.…”

“…Another study showed that both Dutch and native English listeners adapted to a series of lowered front vowel shifts heard in 72 training items in a manipulated English accent [8]. Whether adaptation to a vowel shift can also occur with more limited exposure than in [7] and [8], given the relative instability of the perceptual adaptation in [6], remains to be seen. In theory, we expect a vowel shift to be learnable on the basis of lexical information, but the fact that vowel perception is less categorical than consonant perception may make the observable adaptation effect more subtle.…”

The role of corrective feedback and lexical guidance in perceptual learning of a novel L2 accent in dialogue

“…However, crosslinguistic constraints on L2 perceptual learning have also been observed. For instance, Cooper and Bradlow (2018) showed that after exposure to accented English words presented in a lexically or semantically disambiguating context, Dutch listeners exhibited perceptual adaptation for words containing the trained accent pattern, but only for deviations involving phoneme pairs that were contrastive in both the L1 and L2.…”

Rapid Perceptual Learning and Individual Differences in Speech Perception: The Good, the Bad, and the Sad

“…Nonnative speech learning provides another case in which rapid learning is reduced when speech perception is heavily challenged (Banai & Lavner, 2016;Cooper & Bradlow, 2018;Perrachione, Lee, Ha, & Wong, 2011). The perceptual difficulties of nonnative listeners under challenging listening situations are well documented (for review, see Lecumberri, Cooke, & Cutler, 2010).…”