Training the perception of Hindi dental and retroflex stops by native speakers of American English and Japanese

Abstract

Perception of second language speech sounds is influenced by one's first language. For example, speakers of American English have difficulty perceiving dental versus retroflex stop consonants in Hindi although English has both dental and retroflex allophones of alveolar stops. Japanese, unlike English, has a contrast similar to Hindi, specifically, the Japanese /d/ versus the flapped /r/ which is sometimes produced as a retroflex. This study compared American and Japanese speakers' identification of the Hindi contrast in CV syllable contexts where C varied in voicing and aspiration. The study then evaluated the participants' increase in identifying the distinction after training with a computer-interactive program. Training sessions progressively increased in difficulty by decreasing the extent of vowel truncation in stimuli and by adding new speakers. Although all participants improved significantly, Japanese participants were more accurate than Americans in distinguishing the contrast on pretest, during training, and on posttest. Transfer was observed to three new consonantal contexts, a new vowel context, and a new speaker's productions. Some abstract aspect of the contrast was apparently learned during training. It is suggested that allophonic experience with dental and retroflex stops may be detrimental to perception of the new contrast.

Immediate and Distracted Imitation in Second-Language Speech: Unreleased Plosives In English

“…Previous research has demonstrated that allophonic experience from learners' native language improves both perception of non-native contrasts as well as their learning. (Best and Strange 1992;Halle et al 1999;Jamieson and Moroson 1986;Jenkins and Yeni-Komshian 1995;Kondaurova and Francis 2008;McAllister et al 2002;McClaskey et al 1983;Pisoni et al 1982;Pruitt et al 2006). The current results suggest that such experience also contributes to imitation.…”

Individual differences in the acquisition of second language phonology

“…Also, consistent with this, there was evidence for a relationship between the amount of improvement on identification and discrimination tasks across participants, showing that people who improve on one are likely to improve on the other, and vice versa. Previous laboratory studies have shown that training using naturalistic exemplars is effective under task or stimulus conditions that place relatively lesser demands on working memory (Pruitt et al, 1990;Pruitt et al, 2006;Werker & Tees, 1984b). Other studies, however, have not successfully shown a training-related improvement in the perception of this contrast (Tees & Werker, 1984;Werker & Tees, 1984a;Werker et al, 1981).…”

“…As a result, adult English listeners assimilate the alveolar and retroflex sounds such that they perceive both sounds as instances of the alveolar consonant (Polka, 1991;RiveraGaxiola et al, 2000a;Werker & Lalonde, 1988). Training-related improvement has been previously shown using naturalistic versions of this contrast in English speakers, but mainly under conditions that place relatively fewer demands on working memory, for example with the use of an AX discrimination task with a relatively short inter-stimulus interval (ISI), or with the use of truncated stimuli (Pruitt, Jenkins, & Strange, 2006;Pruitt et al, 1990;Werker & Logan, 1985;Werker & Tees, 1984b). Other studies, however, have not successfully shown training-related improvement in the perception of this contrast (Tees & Werker, 1984;Werker & Tees, 1984a;Werker et al, 1981).…”

Anti-markedness patterns in French epenthesis: An information-theoretic approach

“…Jaeger 1980;Ohala 1982;Dupoux et al 1997;Harnsberger 2001;Peperkamp et al 2003;Kazanina et al 2006;Pruitt et al 2006;Boomershine et al 2008). It has been hypothesized that the reason for this difference in perception is linked to the predictability of the distribution of such sounds (Hall 2009(Hall , 2011.…”