Phonemic Contrasts Research Articles

Part of town as an independent factor: thenorth-forcemerger in Manchester

AbstractThis paper investigates the question of whether, as is often popularly believed, there may be systematic linguistic differences between different neighborhoods within a city by testing the independence of “part of town” as a factor separate from social class in thenorth-forcemerger in Manchester, UK, in a sample of 122 speakers. The phonemic contrast is explored in minimal-pair tests, Cartesian distance, and Pillai scores. In opposition to most dialects of English, thenorth-forcecontrast is still present in Manchester, displaying a pattern of fine social stratification, with lower socioeconomic levels having a stronger distinction. The merger is in progress in the city, but it is slower in north Manchester, showing a significantly greater distinction than the rest of the city, independent of social class. The results indicate a degree of social evaluation of the vowels, with implications for the question of the social meaning of a merger in progress.

The Gutturals in North Argobba: An Etymological Evaluation

Abstract North Argobba is a South Ethio-Semitic idiom used by Argobba communities in the villages of Shonke and T’ollaha (Oromiya zone of Amhara region of Ethiopia). One of the most striking features of North Argobba is the presence of the gutturals ʔ, ʕ, h and ḥ as distinct phonemes. While the importance of this feature has been recognized by the linguists, it is also been observed that not all examples of gutturals are etymologically correct. The present work provides a systematic evaluation of the sources for the North Argobba guttural phonemes ʔ, ʕ, h, ḥ. It demonstrates that these phonemes are reflexes of Proto-Ethio-Semitic gutturals with the same value, although the original picture is to some extent blurred by various phonological processes. The data of North Argobba are thus of considerable value for the phonological reconstruction of the Proto-Ethio-Semitic roots.

Production and Perception Evidence of a Merger: [l] and [n] in Fuzhou Min.

The current study investigated the merger-in-progress between word-initial nasal and lateral consonants in Fuzhou Min, examining the linguistic and social factors that modulate the merger. First, the acoustic cues to the l-n distinction were examined in Fuzhou Min. Acoustic analyses suggested a collapse of phonemic contrast between prescriptive L and N (phonemes in the unmerged system), with none of the six acoustic cues showing any difference across L and N. Linear discriminant analysis did identify acoustically distinct [l] and [n] tokens, although the mapping onto the phonetic space of prescriptive L and N substantially overlapped. Speakers of all ages and both genders tended to produce [l], and low vowels correlated with more [n]-like classification. In perception, AX discrimination data showed Fuzhou Min listeners confused both prescriptive L and N and acoustic [l] and [n]. Greater sensitivity to the acoustic differences occurred in the context of low vowels and a nasal coda, supported by the acoustics of the stimuli, and younger listeners were more sensitive to the difference between [l] and [n] than older listeners. In two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) identification, Fuzhou Min listeners also identified the merged form as L more frequently than N, with more L responses elicited in the context of low vowels and in the absence of nasal codas. Overall, although Fuzhou Min speakers produced some acoustically distinct [l] and [n] tokens in the context of a sound merger, these productions did not map onto prescriptive L and N. In addition, younger listeners were more sensitive to the acoustic distinction than older listeners, suggesting an emerging acoustic contrast possibly arising due to contact with Mandarin.

Are neutral roots in Uyghur really neutral? Evaluating a covert phonemic contrast

This paper looks at the case of so-called neutral roots in Uyghur (Turkic: China), whose idiosyncratic behavior with respect to the backness harmony system has been analyzed as stemming from a covert vowel contrast. Based on considerations of the structural properties of the language and the results of an experimental study, we suggest that an analysis based on lexical exceptionality is more parsimonious than the traditional analysis, unifying the treatment of neutral roots with other cases of exceptionality in the harmony system and accounting for a relationship between the patterning of roots and their frequency. We close by discussing implications for covert contrast analyses in general.

Development of categorical speech perception in Mandarin-speaking children and adolescents.

Although children develop categorical speech perception at a very young age, the maturation process remains unclear. A cross-sectional study in Mandarin-speaking 4-, 6-, and 10-year-old children, 14-year-old adolescents, and adults (n=104, 56 males, all Asians from mainland China) was conducted to investigate the development of categorical perception of four Mandarin phonemic contrasts: lexical tone contrast Tone 1-2, vowel contrast /u/-/i/, consonant aspiration contrast /p/-/ph /, and consonant formant transition contrast /p/-/t/. The results indicated that different types of phonemic contrasts, and even the identification and discrimination of the same phonemic contrast, matured asynchronously. The observation that tone and vowel perception are achieved earlier than consonant perception supports the phonological saliency hypothesis.

Phonological patterns in Greek language in toddlers and children with Down syndrome and children with language impairment

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder which is represented by a variety of deficits in all linguistic domains including phonology. Previous research, mainly conducted in the English language, has documented phonological deficits in early childhood in Down syndrome. Given the paucity of research in the area of phonology in the Greek language, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the phonological skills of children with Down syndrome (N = 45) in the Greek language and compare them with those of age‐matched and non‐verbal age children with language impairment (N = 45). A test, standardized in the Greek language, was used for the above purpose which consisted of four subscales: articulation; phonemic analysis; phonemic completion; and phonemic distinction. The results showed that children with Down syndrome performed poorer on all four subscales than children with language impairment, and provided evidence for distinct difficulties in specific consonants and complex articulations inherent in the Greek language.

Towards an updated dialect atlas of British English

AbstractThis paper presents the results of a survey of phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactic variation in British English, based on over 14,000 responses. We map twelve variables using geospatial “hotspot” analysis. One of our aims is to document the patterning of under- and unstudied variables. A second aim is to track changes in real time, which we do by comparing our findings to those of the 1950s-era Survey of English Dialects (SED; Orton, 1962). We improve upon previous dialectological work by paying careful attention to the phonemic status of mergers and splits: In our contemporary data, we do this by asking subjects if they have a phonemic contrast; in the SED data, we do this by superimposing the isoglosses for individual phones. We find evidence for both stability and change; we document previously unverified patterns. Perhaps most importantly, we identify a number of directions for future research.

The development of linguistic stimuli for the Swedish Situated Phoneme test

AbstractThe speech perception ability of people with hearing loss can be efficiently measured using phonemic-level scoring. We aimed to develop linguistic stimuli suitable for a closed-set phonemic discrimination test in the Swedish language called the Situated Phoneme (SiP) test. The SiP test stimuli that we developed consisted of real monosyllabic words with minimal phonemic contrast, realised by phonetically similar phones. The lexical and sublexical factors of word frequency, phonological neighbourhood density, phonotactic probability, and orthographic transparency were similar between all contrasting words. Each test word was recorded five times by two different speakers, including one male and one female. The accuracy of the test-word recordings was evaluated by 28 normal-hearing subjects in a listening experiment with a silent background using a closed-set design. With a few exceptions, all test words could be correctly discriminated. We discuss the results in terms of content- and construct-validity implications for the Swedish SiP test.

Orthography affects L1 and L2 speech perception but not production in early bilinguals

AbstractOrthography plays a crucial role in L2 learning, which generally relies on both oral and written input. We examine whether incongruencies between L1 and L2 grapheme-phoneme correspondences influence bilingual speech perception and production, even when both languages have been acquired in early childhood before reading acquisition. Spanish–Basque and Basque–Spanish early bilinguals performed an auditory lexical decision task including Basque pseudowords created by replacing Basque /s̻/ with Spanish /θ/. These distinct phonemes take the same orthographic form, <z>. Participants also completed reading-aloud tasks in Basque and Spanish to test whether speech sounds with the same orthographic form were produced similarly in the two languages. Results for both groups showed orthography had strong effects on speech perception but no effects on speech production. Taken together, these findings suggest that orthography plays a crucial role in the speech system of early bilinguals but does not automatically lead to non-native production.

THE EFFECT OF FULL AND PARTIAL MAPPING ON SOUND LOCALIZATION AND CONSONANT RECOGNITION ABILITIES IN CI USERS

Sound localization is an auditory skill that allows identification of an acoustic signal in space. It’s dependent on two mechanisms; a peripheral mechanism that includes signal comparison between right and left ears of a normal hearing person and a central processing mechanism in the brain stem pathways.Hearing loss impairs both peripheral and central mechanisms. However, people with unilateral hearing loss have some ability to localize sound, a finding that reinforces the importance of monaural spectral cues for this purpose. Monaural ability to localize sound might be especially important for patients with unilateral cochlear implants, who base their ‘acoustic picture’ on limited acoustic data.Speech is a complex acoustic signal that is rich in both spectral and temporal features. The listener makes use of whatever spectral or temporal cues are available to help decode the incoming speech signal. Multiple redundant acoustic cues can contribute to the perception of a single phonemic contrast. CI processing preserves the slowly varying temporal envelope information in the speech signal (i.e., cues related to amplitude changes over time) but provides only a coarse representation of the spectral envelope.

The vowel system of Santiago Mexquititlán Otomi (Hñäñho)

The present study provides an acoustic description of the vowel system of Santiago Mexquititlán Otomi (Hñäñho), an endangered and understudied Oto-Manguean language variety spoken in central Mexico. The goal of this production study was to determine whether the phonemic contrasts between Hñäñho vowels, as previously described impressionistically, are maintained in the acoustic realizations of a group of relatively balanced bilingual native speakers of Hñäñho or if Hñäñho phonemic categories are merging due to the extensive influence of Spanish. To this end, each Hñäñho speaker recorded a carefully designed list of 90 Hñäñho words and the resulting dataset of a total of 1507 tokens was subjected to analysis. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to predict Bark scale correlates of vowel height (B1 – b0) and vowel frontness/backness (B2 – B1) and the Pillai scores were calculated in order to determine the degree of overlap for adjacent Hñäñho vowel pairs. The speakers’ Hñäñho vowels were also compared to their Spanish vowels. A list of five Spanish words was used and a total of 90 tokens of the Spanish vowels were recorded. The results confirm that the vowel system of Hñäñho, produced by older Hñäñho speakers, consists of 10 distinct phonemes. Hñäñho-specific phonetic details are discussed, including the fronted realization of the vowel /u/ as [u̟] and the lowering of the vowel /ɔ/ to [ɒ], which might lead to a future /a – ɔ/ merger. These findings underline the importance of early and sustained exposure to indigenous bilinguals’ native language for the maintenance of phonetic features of Hñäñho despite extensive contact with Spanish.

Neutralization in English phonology

In English phonology, neutralization can be considered a process which incorporates a phonemic distinction‟s elimination in a complete context of phonology. The classic example of neutralization is the neutralization of a word-final voicing contrast. If there is phonetically complete neutralization occurs, then there should be phonetically identical two surface forms. In the present study, the main aim is focusing on phonological neutralization while considering the role of phonetic and phonological representations in the perception and production of human speech. The study finds out that there is neutralization, but not always all word-final voice contrast can be neutralized (despite the devoicing rule‟s operation). Moreover, the study finds out that all the rules of phonology can be applied in such a way that where neutralization can be seen and allowing underlying distinctions since, neutralized word can to be preserved or recovered.

Categoricity, Variation, and Gradience in Sambla Balafon Segmental Encoding

This paper analyzes the musical surrogate encoding of Seenku (Mande, Burkina Faso) syllable structure on the balafon, a resonator xylophone used by the Sambla ethnicity. The elements of syllable structure that are encoded include vowel length, sesquisyllabicity, diphthongs, and nasal codas. Certain elements, like vowel length and sesquisyllabicity, involve categorical encoding through conscious rules of surrogate speech, while others, like diphthongs and nasal codas, vary between being treated as simple or complex. Beyond these categorical encodings, subtler aspects of rhythmic structure find their way into the speech surrogate through durational differences; these include duration differences from phonemic distinctions like vowel length in addition to subphonemic differences due to phrasal position. I argue that these subconscious durational differences arise from a “phonetic filter”, which mediates between the musician’s inner voice and their non-verbal behavior. Specifically, syllables encoded on the balafon may be timed according to the perceptual center (p-center) of natural spoken rhythm, pointing to a degree of phonetic detail in a musician’s inner speech.

THE PERCEPTION OF ARABIC VOWEL DURATION BY L1 HEBREW SPEAKERS

AbstractThe acquisition of a second language (L2) may be challenging in adulthood, as the phonological system of the native language (L1) can sometimes limit the perception of phonological contrasts in L2. The present study aimed to (a) examine the influence of an L1 (Hebrew) that lacks a phonemic contrast for vowel length on the ability to discriminate between short and long vowels in L2 (Arabic); and (b) assess the effect of a short training on the participants’ discrimination performance. A total of 60 participants, 20 native Arabic speakers and 40 native Hebrew speakers, were tested using the ABX procedure in two sessions that were 10 days apart. A single training session was provided for half of the Hebrew speakers (n = 20) approximately 2–3 days after the first (pretraining) testing session. The results indicated that the trained Hebrew participants’ discrimination levels (measured by accuracy and reaction times) were above chance level but were nevertheless lower in comparison to the Arabic speakers. However, a short training session was sufficient to yield a nativelike performance that generalized to untrained nonwords. These findings support the theoretical models that predict a reserved ability to acquire new phonetic/phonological cues in L2 and have important practical implications for the process of learning a new phonological system in adulthood.

Korean listeners’ processing of suprasegmental lexical contrasts in Korean and English: A cue-based transfer approach

This study investigates whether listeners’ use of prosodic cues to lexical contrasts can transfer from one phonological phenomenon in the native (first) language (L1) to another in a second/foreign language (L2). It investigates how Gyeongsang-Korean (GK) and Seoul-Korean (SK) listeners process English lexical stress. GK does not have lexical stress but has lexical pitch accents, whereas SK has neither; GK listeners are thus hypothesized to be more sensitive to pitch as a cue to lexical contrasts than SK listeners. GK and SK listeners completed a task in which they recalled four-item sequences of Korean words differing suprasegmentally (pitch accent contrast) or segmentally (phonemic contrast). The results showed a significant L1-by-contrast-type interaction, with GK listeners outperforming SK listeners in the pitch accent contrast condition. These results confirm GK listeners’ greater sensitivity to pitch in the L1. The same GK and SK listeners, who were matched in English proficiency, and native English listeners completed a similar task with English words differing suprasegmentally (stress contrast) or segmentally (phonemic contrast). The results showed a significant L1-by-contrast-type interaction, with GK listeners outperforming SK (and English) listeners in the stress-contrast condition. These results provide robust evidence for a cue-based transfer approach to L2 lexical stress processing.

Neural Representation of the English Vowel Feature [High]: Evidence From /ε/ vs. /ɪ/.

Many studies have observed modulation of the amplitude of the neural index mismatch negativity (MMN) related to which member of a phoneme contrast [phoneme A, phoneme B] serves as the frequent (standard) and which serves as the infrequent (deviant) stimulus (i.e., AAAB vs. BBBA) in an oddball paradigm. Explanations for this amplitude modulation range from acoustic to linguistic factors. We tested whether exchanging the role of the mid vowel /ε/ vs. high vowel /ɪ/ of English modulated MMN amplitude and whether the pattern of modulation was compatible with an underspecification account, in which the underspecified height values are [−high] and [−low]. MMN was larger for /ε/ as the deviant, but only when compared across conditions to itself as the standard. For the within-condition comparison, MMN was larger to /ɪ/ deviant minus /ε/ standard than to the reverse. A condition order effect was also observed. MMN amplitude was smaller to the deviant stimulus if it had previously served as the standard. In addition, the amplitudes of late discriminative negativity (LDN) showed similar asymmetry. LDN was larger for deviant /ε/ than deviant /ɪ/ when compared to themselves as the standard. These findings were compatible with an underspecification account, but also with other accounts, such as the Natural Referent Vowel model and a prototype model; we also suggest that non-linguistic factors need to be carefully considered as additional sources of speech processing asymmetries.

The Development of a Paediatric Phoneme Discrimination Test for Arabic Phonemic Contrasts.

Objective: The aim of this project was to develop the Arabic CAPT (A-CAPT), a Standard Arabic version of the CHEAR auditory perception test (CAPT) that assesses consonant perception ability in children. Method: This closed-set test was evaluated with normal-hearing children aged 5 to 11 years. Development and validation of the speech materials were accomplished in two experimental phases. Twenty-six children participated in phase I, where the test materials were piloted to ensure that the selected words were age appropriate and that the form of Arabic used was familiar to the children. Sixteen children participated in phase II where test–retest reliability, age effects, and critical differences were measured. A computerized implementation was used to present stimuli and collect responses. Children selected one of four response options displayed on a screen for each trial. Results: Two lists of 32 words were developed with two levels of difficulty, easy and hard. Assessment of test–retest reliability for the final version of the lists showed a strong agreement. A within-subject ANOVA showed no significant difference between test and retest sessions. Performance improved with increasing age. Critical difference values were similar to the British English version of the CAPT. Conclusions: The A-CAPT is an appropriate speech perception test for assessing Arabic-speaking children as young as 5 years old. This test can reliably assess consonant perception ability and monitor changes over time or after an intervention.

Time-Frequency Analysis of Kannada Phonetics

This paper presents phonetics of Kannada language and their classification based on time-frequency analysis. Each distinct sound of speech called phoneme is produced by changing the shape of the vocal tract tube. The resonances of the vocal tract tube called formant frequencies are responsible for producing different phonemes. It is observed that vowels (Swaragalu in Kannada) have clear formant structure and they are about 3 to 5 formant frequencies of significance below 5000 Hz. They are characterized by having high energy, maximum airflow and periodicity and are classified based on the location of formant frequencies. Consonants (Vyanjanagalu in Kannada) are classified based on voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation. Time-frequency analysis reveals that there are totally 37 distinct phonemes in Kannada language.

Neuroplasticity in the phonological system: The PMN and the N400 as markers for the perception of non-native phonemic contrasts by late second language learners

Second language (L2) learners frequently encounter persistent difficulty in perceiving certain non-native sound contrasts, i.e., a phenomenon called “phonological deafness”. However, if extensive L2 experience leads to neuroplastic changes in the phonological system, then the capacity to discriminate non-native phonemic contrasts should progressively improve. Such perceptual changes should be attested by modifications at the neurophysiological level. We designed an EEG experiment in which the listeners’ perceptual capacities to discriminate second language phonemic contrasts influence the processing of lexical-semantic violations. Semantic congruency of critical words in a sentence context was driven by a phonemic contrast that was unique to the L2, English (e.g.,/ɪ/-/i:/, ship – sheep). Twenty-eight young adult native speakers of French with intermediate proficiency in English listened to sentences that contained either a semantically congruent or incongruent critical word (e.g., The anchor of theship/*sheepwas let down) while EEG was recorded. Three ERP effects were found to relate to increasing L2 proficiency: (1) a left frontal auditory N100 effect, (2) a smaller fronto-central phonological mismatch negativity (PMN) effect and (3) a semantic N400 effect. No effect of proficiency was found on oscillatory markers. The current findings suggest that neuronal plasticity in the human brain allows for the late acquisition of even hard-wired linguistic features such as the discrimination of phonemic contrasts in a second language. This is the first time that behavioral and neurophysiological evidence for the critical role of neural plasticity underlying L2 phonological processing and its interdependence with semantic processing has been provided. Our data strongly support the idea that pieces of information from different levels of linguistic processing (e.g., phonological, semantic) strongly interact and influence each other during online language processing.

Lexical and Prosodic Pitch Modifications in Cantonese Infant-directed Speech

The functions of acoustic-phonetic modifications in infant-directed speech (IDS) remain a question: do they specifically serve to facilitate language learning via enhanced phonemic contrasts (the hyperarticulation hypothesis) or primarily to improve communication via prosodic exaggeration (the prosodic hypothesis)? The study of lexical tones provides a unique opportunity to shed light on this, as lexical tones are phonemically contrastive, yet their primary cue, pitch, is also a prosodic cue. This study investigated Cantonese IDS and found increased intra-talker variation of lexical tones, which more likely posed a challenge to rather than facilitated phonetic learning. Although tonal space was expanded which could facilitate phonetic learning, its expansion was a function of overall intonational modifications. Similar findings were observed in speech to pets who should not benefit from larger phonemic distinction. We conclude that lexical-tone adjustments in IDS mainly serve to broadly enhance communication rather than specifically increase phonemic contrast for learners.