title: A vowel is a vowel: generalizing newly learned phonotactic constraints to new contexts.
abstract: Adults can learn novel phonotactic constraints from brief listening experience. We investigated the representations underlying phonotactic learning by testing generalization to syllables containing new vowels. Adults heard consonant-vowel-consonant study syllables in which particular consonants were artificially restricted to the onset or coda position (e.g., /f/ is an onset, /s/ is a coda). Subjects were quicker to repeat novel constraint-following (legal) than constraint-violating (illegal) test syllables whether they contained a vowel used in the study syllables (training vowel) or a new (transfer) vowel. This effect emerged regardless of the acoustic similarity between training and transfer vowels. Listeners thus learned and generalized phonotactic constraints that can be characterized as simple first-order constraints on consonant position. Rapid generalization independent of vowel context provides evidence that vowels and consonants are represented independently by processes underlying phonotactic learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN 56082, USA. kchamber@gustavus.edu
authors.forename: Kyle E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.forename: Kristine H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Onishi
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010700:Phonetics; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology