Influence Of Language Experience Research Articles

ManyBabies1 part 2: Influences of language experience on infant-directed speech preference

ManyBabies1, our first effort at a large scale collaborative infant experimental study, provided a conceptual replication of the well-known phenomenon of infant preference for the characteristics of Infant-directed speech (IDS). One important question that has largely been unanswered by extant literature is how much the IDS preference is dependent on experience with a specific language. How do infants respond to IDS that is in a non-native variety, and how does their listening affect this preference? ManyBabies 1 used a consistent stimulus set of North-American English (NAE), which allowed us to answer this questions using two approaches. First, because participating ManyBabies 1 labs were located around the world, we were able to compare monolingual infants from a range of native-language backgrounds. We found that the preference for North American English IDS was larger for infants whose native language was NAE than for infants who had a different native language. Second, we conducted a sister project, ManyBabies 1 Bilingual, which tested infants from a variety of bilingual backgrounds. Bilinguals have similar total language experience and maturation as monolinguals, but their experience is divided across two or more languages. Planned analyses will examine monolingual-bilingual differences, and “dose-response” effects of exposure to NAE.

The influence of language experience on categorical perception of Mandarin tones

The influence of language experience on categorical perception of Mandarin tones

Language Experience and Phonetic Training as Factors Influencing Timing Organisation in Polish Learners of English

The paper investigates the dynamics of speech rhythm in Polish learners of English and, specifically, how rhythm measurements revealing durational characteristics of vocalic and consonantal intervals through the measures (%V, ΔV, ΔC, VarcoV, VarcoC and nPVI) change along the process of second language acquisition as a result of language experience and phonetic training, and influence rhythmic characteristics of L2 English. The data used for the analysis come from 30 Polish first-year students of the University of Łódź recorded reading two texts (English and Polish) during two recording sessions separated by a 7-month period of language studies and compared to the data obtained from the recordings of native speakers of English. The experiment aims at verifying whether the participants achieve progress in the rhythm measure scores under the influence of language experience and phonetic training, as it has already been confirmed that general proficiency of non-native speakers of English is a key factor contributing to the successful production of rhythmic patterns in English (Waniek-Klimczak 2009, Roach 2002). The results have shown no substantial and consistent progress for the whole group and across all the measures. Statistical tests, however, have revealed significant changes in the subjects' performance with respect to the vocalic measures ΔV and VarcoV. This may reflect the effect of the type of phonetic training the students are offered, which is segment-based with particular emphasis on vowels.

The influence of language experience on categorical perception of pitch contours

Previous research on categorical perception of pitch contours has mainly considered the contrast between tone language and non-tone language listeners. This study investigates not only the influence of tone language vs. non-tone language experience (German vs. Chinese), but also the influence of different tone inventories (Mandarin tones vs. Cantonese tones), on the categorical perception of pitch contours. The results show that the positions of the identification boundaries do not differ significantly across the 3 groups of listeners, i.e., Mandarin, Cantonese, and German, but that the boundary widths do differ significantly between tone language (Mandarin and Cantonese) listeners and non-tone language (German) listeners, with broader boundary widths for non-tone language listeners. In the discrimination tasks, the German listeners exhibit only psychophysical boundaries, whereas Chinese listeners exhibit linguistic boundaries, and these linguistic boundaries are further shaped by the different tone inventories.

The influence of language experience on perception: The case of Spanish and English

Native speakers can distinguish sounds that serve a contrastive function in their language better than those that do not, but the role of allophony in speech perception is understudied. The present study tests the influence of the allophonic/phonemic distinction on ratings of perceptual similarity given by Spanish and English listeners to pairs of stimuli contrasting [d], [r], and [■]. These sounds have different phonological relations in the two languages: [d] and [r] are allophonic in English and contrastive in Spanish, while [d] vs [■] are allophonic in Spanish but contrastive in English. The study also investigated to what extent, if any, degree of experience/proficiency with a non-native language influences perception. The results suggest that native language but not level of language proficiency in L2 affects rated similarity. In particular, whether or not sounds are in an allophonic or contrastive relationship in the native language shapes how these sounds are perceived. [Work supported by NIDCD Grant R01 DC04421-4.]