Theoretical models of non-native speech perception: Implications for perception of foreign-accented speech

Abstract

Linguistic experience systematically affects speech perception, specifically for non-native phonemes and contrasts. Native language influences are strong in adults, and emerge in infancy. Several theoretical models of non-native speech perception have been proposed, including the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best), Speech Learning Model (LSM: Flege), and Native Language Magnet model (NLM: Kuhl). Findings that infants learn statistical distributions of phoneme sequences, and phonetic details, converge on the notion that exposure to specific phonetic patterns affects the perception of phonological structure. A reasonable extrapolation is that perception of even native utterances should be influenced by their pronunciation with either familiar or unfamiliar phonetic structure. That is, if a listener is inexperienced with a given foreign accent, or another native language dialect, perception should be predictably affected when native phonemes/words are produced with those accents. This issue has received modest research attention, which has focused on sentences/words rather than phonemes. Findings suggest that unfamiliar accents do reduce recognition and intelligibility of native sentences and words. The implications of non-native speech models, particularly PAM and SLM, for understanding and studying the impact of foreign accent on perception of native phonemes and contrasts, as well as longer utterances, will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]