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Discriminationofnon-nativeconsonantcontrastsvarying

inperceptualassimilationtothelistener’snative

phonologicalsystem

CatherineT.Besta)

DepartmentofPsychology,WesleyanUniversity,Middletown,Connecticut06459andHaskinsLaboratories,270CrownStreet,NewHaven,Connecticut06511

GeraldW.McRoberts

DepartmentofPsychology,LehighUniversity,Bethlehem,Pennsylvania18015andHaskinsLaboratories,270CrownStreet,NewHaven,Connecticut06511

ElizabethGoodellb)

DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofConnecticut,Storrs,Connecticut06269andHaskinsLaboratories,270CrownStreet,NewHaven,Connecticut06511

͑Received18October1999;revised4October2000;accepted18October2000͒

Classicnon-nativespeechperceptionfindingssuggestedthatadultshavedifficultydiscriminating

segmentaldistinctionsthatarenotemployedcontrastivelyintheirownlanguage.However,recent

reportsindicateagradientofperformanceacrossnon-nativecontrasts,rangingfromnear-chanceto

near-ceiling.Currenttheoreticalmodelsarguethatsuchvariationsreflectsystematiceffectsof

experiencewithphoneticpropertiesofnativespeech.Thepresentresearchaddressedpredictions

fromBest’sperceptualassimilationmodel͑PAM͒,whichincorporatesbothcontrastive

phonologicalandnoncontrastivephoneticinfluencesfromthenativelanguageinitspredictions

aboutdiscriminationlevelsfordiversetypesofnon-nativecontrasts.WeevaluatedthePAM

hypothesesthatdiscriminationofanon-nativecontrastshouldbenear-ceilingifperceivedas

phonologicallyequivalenttoanativecontrast,lowerthoughstillquitegoodifperceivedasa

phoneticdistinctionbetweengoodversuspoorexemplarsofasinglenativeconsonant,andmuch

lowerifbothnon-nativesegmentsarephoneticallyequivalentingoodnessoffittoasinglenative

consonant.TwoexperimentsassessednativeEnglishspeakers’perceptionofZuluandTigrinya

contrastsexpectedtofitthosecriteria.FindingssupportedthePAMpredictions,andprovided

evidenceforsomeperceptualdifferentiationofphonological,phonetic,andnonlinguistic

informationinperceptionofnon-nativespeech.Theoreticalimplicationsfornon-nativespeech

perceptionarediscussed,andsuggestionsaremadeforfurtherresearch.©2001Acoustical

SocietyofAmerica.͓DOI:10.1121/1.1332378͔

PACSnumbers:43.71.Hw,43.71.Es,43.71.Ft͓KRK͔

I.INTRODUCTION

Adults’perceptionofspeechcontrastsisstronglyinflu-

encedbyexperiencewiththephonologicalsystemoftheir

nativelanguage͑e.g.,AbramsonandLisker,1970͒.Atradi-

tionalaccountforthisphenomenonhasbeenaperceptual

versionoftheconceptthatanative-language‘‘phonological

filter’’operatesinproductionofnon-nativesegments͑Poli-

vanov,1931;Trubetskoy,1939/1969͒.Thatis,ithasbeen

assumedthatmaturelistenershavedifficultydiscriminating

phoneticdistinctionsthatdonotoccurasanativephonologi-

calcontrast.Perhapsthemostwidelycitedexampleofsuch

perceptualdifficultyisthepoordiscriminationofEnglish

/r/-/(/byspeakersoflanguagesthatlackthiscontrast,suchas

Japanese͑e.g.,Goto,1971;Miyawakietal.,1975;Mochi-

zuki,1981;BestandStrange,1992;MacKainetal.,1981͒.

Similarlypoornon-nativespeechperceptionperformance

hasbeendocumentedforspeakersofotherlanguages.Forexample,Englishspeakershavedifficultydiscriminating

contrastssuchasHindiretroflexversusdentalstopsand

Nthlakampxvelarversusuvularejectives͑Werkeretal.,

1981;WerkerandTees,1984͒.Discriminationinsuchcases

isnearchance,instrikingcontrasttotheceiling-levelper-

formancetypicallyfoundwithnativelanguagedistinctions.

Whatisitaboutnativelanguageexperiencethatresults

insuchdifficultieswithnon-nativespeechdiscrimination?

Onetypeofexplanationemphasizedexposureinearlydevel-

opmentasbeingcriticaltothe‘‘tuning’’ofrelevantsensori-

neuralmechanisms.Forexample,somearguedthatinnate,

linguisticallyspecializedneuralmechanisms,initiallytuned

touniversalsettingsofphoneticcategoriesand/orbound-

aries,aremodifiedbyearlyexposuretospecificphonetic

features͑e.g.,Eimas,1975,1991͒.Otherspositedthenonlin-

guisticviewthatearlyexposuretospecificacousticproper-

tiesmaintainsorenhancesthetuningofprewiredpsycho-

physicalmechanismsthatrespondselectivelytothose

properties͑e.g.,AslinandPisoni,1980͒.Suchprewired

mechanismsaregenerallyassumed,bythelatterview,tobe

componentsofgeneralauditoryprocessingskillsthat

area͒Electronicmail:cbest@wesleyan.edub͒Presentaddress:LandmarkSchool,429HaleSt.,PridesCrossing,MA01965.

775775J.Acoust.Soc.Am.109(2),February20010001-4966/2001/109(2)/775/20/$18.00©2001AcousticalSocietyofAmericapartofourmammalian͑orvertebrate͒evolutionaryendow-

ment͑e.g.,Kuhl,1988;Dooling,1989͒.

Ithassincebecomeapparent,however,thatneitherac-

countofcriticalearlytuningcanadequatelyexplainallas-

pectsofadults’non-nativespeechperception.Numerous

studieshaveshownthatdiscriminationofunfamiliarpho-

neticcontrastscanbeimprovedeveninadultsthroughex-

tensivenaturalexperience,intensivelaboratorytraining,or

experimentalmanipulationsthatreducetaskmemoryde-