Identifying novel samples of spoken Korean

Abstract

Listeners can identify familiar foreign languages without understanding them on the basis of their sound or acoustic signature. Listeners need only brief exposure to a novel language to learn to identify it from its sound pattern [Bond et al., Lang. Sci. 20, 353–367 (1998)]. The current experiments replicated the previous study using a different target language. In the first experiment, listeners distinguished Korean from languages which employ syllable rhythm. In the second experiment, listeners separated Korean from other East Asian languages. In both experiments, listeners made judgments either without exposure (control) or after exposure to 10 min of spoken Korean. Listener responses were converted to A, a nonparametric measure of discriminability. In experiment 1, listeners in the control condition responded at chance, mean A=0.47. After exposure, listeners identified Korean above chance levels, mean A=0.71. Listeners tended to confuse Korean with Asian languages rather than with African or European languages, suggesting that voice and speech style influenced their judgments. In experiment 2, the control group had extreme difficulty identifying Korean, mean A=0.28. Brief exposure enabled listeners to develop a representation of the sound of Korean in that they produced more hits and fewer misses to the target (mean A=0.71).