title: Cross-language perceptual similarity predicts categorial discrimination of American vowels by naïve Japanese listeners.
abstract: Current speech perception models propose that relative perceptual difficulties with non-native segmental contrasts can be predicted from cross-language phonetic similarities. Japanese (J) listeners performed a categorical discrimination task in which nine contrasts (six adjacent height pairs, three front/back pairs) involving eight American (AE) vowels [iː, ɪ, ε, æː, ɑː, ʌ, ʊ, uː] in /hVbə/ disyllables were tested. The listeners also completed a perceptual assimilation task (categorization as J vowels with category goodness ratings). Perceptual assimilation patterns (quantified as categorization overlap scores) were highly predictive of discrimination accuracy (r(s)=0.93). Results suggested that J listeners used both spectral and temporal information in discriminating vowel contrasts.
authors.affiliation: PhD Program in Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences, The City University of New York-Graduate School and University Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10016, USA. strangepin@aol.com
authors.forename: Winifred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Strange
authors.forename: Miwako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hisagi
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akahane-Yamada
authors.forename: Rieko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kubo
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult