Language experience, speech perception and loanword adaptation: Variable adaptation of English word-final plosives into Korean

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harim Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
English Word ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Adaptation Variable

From Ear to Cortex

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Nittrouer
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Learning Problems ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Acoustic Speech Signal ◽  
Perceptual Changes

Phoneme-sized phonetic segments are often defined as the most basic unit of language organization. Two common inferences made from this description are that there are clear correlates to phonetic segments in the acoustic speech stream, and that humans have access to these segments from birth. In fact, well-replicated studies have shown that the acoustic signal of speech lacks invariant physical correlates to phonetic segments, and that the ability to recognize segmental structure is not present from the start of language learning. Instead, the young child must learn how to process the complex, generally continuous acoustic speech signal so that phonetic structure can be derived. This paper describes and reviews experiments that have revealed developmental changes in speech perception that accompany improvements in access to phonetic structure. In addition, this paper explains how these perceptual changes appear to be related to other aspects of language development, such as syntactic abilities and reading. Finally, evidence is provided that these critical developmental changes result from adequate language experience in naturalistic contexts, and accordingly suggests that intervention strategies for children with language learning problems should focus on enhancing language experience in natural contexts.

scholarly journals An orthographic effect in loanword adaptation

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Daland ◽  
Mira Oh
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Large Role ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Source Form ◽  
The Relationship

Loanword corpora have been an important tool in studying the relationship between speech perception and native-language phonotactics. Recent work has challenged this use of loanword corpora on methodological grounds, based on the fact that source and possibly loan orthography conditions the adaptation. The present study replicates and extends this finding by using information theory to quantify the relative strength of orthographic effects, in the adaptation of English vowels into Korean. It is found that the orthographic effect is strong for unstressed vowels, but almost unnoticable for stressed vowels. It is proposed that orthography plays a large role in adaptation only when the source form is perceptually compatible with multiple phonological parses in the borrowing language.

scholarly journals Speech perception at birth: The brain encodes fast and slow temporal information

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (30) ◽  
pp. eaba7830
Author(s):  
Laurianne Cabrera ◽  
Judit Gervain
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
The Brain

Speech perception is constrained by auditory processing. Although at birth infants have an immature auditory system and limited language experience, they show remarkable speech perception skills. To assess neonates’ ability to process the complex acoustic cues of speech, we combined near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to syllables differing in consonants. The syllables were presented in three conditions preserving (i) original temporal modulations of speech [both amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM)], (ii) both fast and slow AM, but not FM, or (iii) only the slowest AM (<8 Hz). EEG responses indicate that neonates can encode consonants in all conditions, even without the fast temporal modulations, similarly to adults. Yet, the fast and slow AM activate different neural areas, as shown by NIRS. Thus, the immature human brain is already able to decompose the acoustic components of speech, laying the foundations of language learning.

scholarly journals Temporal features of word-initial /s/+stop clusters in bilingual Mandarin–English children and monolingual English children and adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-497
Author(s):  
JING YANG
Keyword(s):  
English Word ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Temporal Organization ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Temporal Features ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
L1 English

AbstractThis study investigated the durational features of English word-initial /s/+stop clusters produced by bilingual Mandarin (L1)–English (L2) children and monolingual English children and adults. The participants included two groups of five- to six-year-old bilingual children: low proficiency in the L2 (Bi-low) and high proficiency in the L2 (Bi-high), one group of age-matched English children, and one group of English adults. Each participant produced a list of English words containing /sp, st, sk/ at the word-initial position followed by /a, i, u/, respectively. The absolute durations of the clusters and cluster elements and the durational proportions of elements to the overall cluster were measured. The results revealed that Bi-high children behaved similarly to the English monolinguals whereas Bi-low children used a different strategy of temporal organization to coordinate the cluster components in comparison to the English monolinguals and Bi-high children. The influence of language experience and continuing development of temporal features in children were discussed.

Perceptual similarity in loanword adaptation: English postvocalic word-final stops in Korean

Phonology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoonjung Kang
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Large Body ◽  
English Word ◽  
Perceptual Similarity ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Loanword Phonology

When an English word with a postvocalic word-final stop is adapted to Korean, a vowel is variably inserted after the final stop. Vowel insertion in this position is puzzling not only because of its variability but also because of the fact that it is not motivated by the native phonology in any obvious way. After providing a thorough description of the vowel-insertion pattern on the basis of a survey of a large body of data, the paper proposes that vowel insertion is motivated to improve the perceptual similarity between the English input and the Korean output as well as to obey a morphophonemic restriction in Korean. The paper provides strong evidence that non-contrastive phonetic details of lending or borrowing languages are relevant in the process of loanword adaptation and at the same time suggests a richer view of loanword phonology, one which involves interaction of phonetic, phonemic and morphophonemic factors.

scholarly journals Preserved Implicit Knowledge of a Forgotten Childhood Language

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1064-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Bowers ◽  
Sven L. Mattys ◽  
Suzanne H. Gage
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Previous Exposure ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Young Control ◽  
Language Exposure

Previous research suggests that a language learned during early childhood is completely forgotten when contact to that language is severed. In contrast with these findings, we report leftover traces of early language exposure in individuals in their adult years, despite a complete absence of explicit memory for the language. Specifically, native English individuals under age 40 selectively relearned subtle Hindi or Zulu sound contrasts that they once knew. However, individuals over 40 failed to show any relearning, and young control participants with no previous exposure to Hindi or Zulu showed no learning. This research highlights the lasting impact of early language experience in shaping speech perception, and the value of exposing children to foreign languages even if such exposure does not continue into adulthood.

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