Bilingual Language Experience May Alter Perception of the Tritone Paradox Evidence from Spanish/English Bilingual and English Monolingual Listeners in Texas

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the tritone paradox, tones separated by a half octave are heard by some as descending and by others as ascending. The phenomenon has been variously interpreted in a psychoacoustic manner or in terms of pitch class templates shaped by early language experience. If early language experience is a critical factor affecting tritone perception, would the paradox be perceived differently depending on whether the language experience was monolingual or bilingual? Monolingual (n=42) and bilingual (n=65) participants were recruited from the same geographic location. Bilinguals were subdivided by onset of bilingualism and – further, for late bilinguals - by first acquired language (Spanish or English). Participants judged whether they heard pairs of synthesized tritones as ascending or descending in pitch. Analysis of peak pitch distribution showed a significant difference between monolinguals and late bilinguals. No differences were noted between English-Spanish and Spanish-English late bilinguals, nor between early and late bilinguals. Additionally, among Spanish-English late bilinguals, significant differences were found in tritone perception between low and high envelope presentation. Our findings suggest that acquisition of two languages, under some conditions, may alter perception of musical pitch relative to acquisition of a single language. The finding of language experience-based differences in tritone perception is more compatible with an account based on pitch class templates shaped by language experience than by existing psychoacoustic accounts. It is not possible to completely rule out a psychoacoustic account, if we assume that individuals with different linguistic backgrounds may differ in the position of the preference region in the frequency axis such models rely on. Also other variables at play in this study cannot be ruled out with certainty. Our findings are consistent with other research suggesting that bilingual language experience is associated with greater perceptual flexibility, in both language and non-language contexts.