Production constraints on learning novel onset phonotactics.
Three experiments addressed the hypothesis that production factors constrain phonotactic learning in adult English speakers, and that this constraint gives rise to a markedness effect on learning. In Experiment 1, an acoustic measure was used to assess consonant-consonant coarticulation in naturally produced nonwords, which were then used as stimuli in a phonotactic learning experiment. Results indicated that sonority-rising sequences were more coarticulated than -plateauing sequences, and that listeners learned novel-rising onsets more readily than novel-plateauing onsets. Experiments 2 and 3 addressed the specific questions of whether (1) the acoustic correlates of coarticulation or (2) the coarticulatory patterns of self-productions constrained learning. In Experiment 2, stimuli acoustics were altered to control for coarticulatory differences between sequence type, but a clear markedness effect was still observed. In Experiment 3, listeners' self-productions were gathered and used to predict their treatment of novel-rising and -plateauing sequences. Results were that listeners' coarticulatory patterns predicted their treatment of novel sequences. Overall, the findings suggest that the powerful effects of statistical learning are moderated by the perception-production loop in language.
Redford
Melissa A
MA
The University of Oregon, Linguistics Department, 1290 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. redford@uoregon.edu
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014706:Verbal Learning