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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-