scholarly journals Sound change in spontaneous bilingual speech: A corpus study on the Cantonese n-l merger in Cantonese-English bilinguals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Soo ◽  
Khia A. Johnson ◽  
Molly Babel
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
The Status ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
L Word ◽  
Spectral Tilt

In Cantonese and several other Chinese languages, /n/ is merging with /l/. The Cantonese merger appears categorical, with /n/ becoming /l/ word-initially. This project aims to describe the status of /n/ and /l/ in bilingual Cantonese and English speech to better understand individual differences at the interface of crosslinguistic influence and sound change. We examine bilingual speech using the SpiCE corpus, composed of speech from 34 early Cantonese-English bilinguals. Acoustic measures were collected on pre-vocalic nasal and lateral onsets in both languages. If bilinguals maintain separate representations for corresponding segments across languages, smaller differences between /n/ and /l/ are predicted in Cantonese compared to English. Measures of mid-frequency spectral tilt suggest that the /n/ and /l/ contrast is robustly maintained in English, but not Cantonese. The spacing of F2-F1 suggests small differences between Cantonese /n/ and /l/, and robust differences in English. While cross-language categories appear independent, substantial individual differences exist in the data. These data contribute to the understanding of the /n/ and /l/ merger in Cantonese and other Chinese languages, in addition to providing empirical and theoretical insights into crosslinguistic influence in early bilinguals.

scholarly journals Personality dynamics at work: The effects of form, time, and context of variability

2021 ◽  
pp. 089020702110173
Author(s):  
Nadin Beckmann ◽  
Damian P Birney ◽  
Amirali Minbashian ◽  
Jens F Beckmann
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Short Term ◽  
State Data ◽  
The Status ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Trait Variability

The study aimed to investigate the status of within-person state variability in neuroticism and conscientiousness as individual differences constructs by exploring their (a) temporal stability, (b) cross-context consistency, (c) empirical links to selected antecedents, and (d) empirical links to longer term trait variability. Employing a sample of professionals ( N = 346) from Australian organisations, personality state data together with situation appraisals were collected using experience sampling methodology in field and repeatedly in lab-like settings. Data on personality traits, cognitive ability, and motivational mindsets were collected at baseline and after two years. Contingent (situation contingencies) and non-contingent (relative SD) state variability indices were relatively stable over time and across contexts. Only a small number of predictive effects of state variability were observed, and these differed across contexts. Cognitive ability appeared to be associated with state variability under lab-like conditions. There was limited evidence of links between short-term state and long-term trait variability, except for a small effect for neuroticism. Some evidence of positive manifold was found for non-contingent variability. Systematic efforts are required to further elucidate the complex pattern of results regarding the antecedents, correlates and outcomes of individual differences in state variability.

The distribution of short and long pronouns in Maltese

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-220
Author(s):  
Benjamin Saade
Keyword(s):  
Weak Effect ◽  
Functional Diagnostics ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Short Forms ◽  
The Status

Abstract This study investigates the distribution of long and short independent pronouns in Maltese. By applying proposed positional and functional diagnostics to explain the variation between short and long pronouns (copular use, modification, coordination, peripheral positions) combined with a corpus study of pronominal form, person, and text type, this study sheds light on the factors that influence pronominal form and the status of reduced person forms in Maltese. While the copular use of pronouns does have a weak effect on pronominal form (long forms preferred), a stronger effect is observed with regard to grammatical person (1 sg prefers short forms, 2 sg & 3 sg prefer long forms) and text type.

scholarly journals Language contact within the speaker: Phonetic variation and crosslinguistic influence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khia A. Johnson ◽  
Molly Babel
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Recent Model ◽  
Phonetic Variation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Language Influence

A recent model of sound change posits that the direction of change is determined, at least in part, by the distribution of variation within speech communities (Harrington, Kleber, Reubold, Schiel, & Stevens, 2018; Harrington & Schiel, 2017). We explore this model in the context of bilingual speech, asking whether the less variable language constrains phonetic variation in the more variable language, using a corpus of spontaneous speech from early Cantonese-English bilinguals (Johnson, Babel, Fong, & Yiu, 2020). As predicted, given the phonetic distributions of stop obstruents in Cantonese compared to English, intervocalic English /b d g/ were produced with less voicing for Cantonese-English bilinguals and word-final English /t k/ were more likely to be unreleased compared to spontaneous speech from two monolingual English control corpora (Pitt, Johnson, Hume, Kiesling, & Raymond, 2005; Swan, 2016). Cantonese phonology is more gradient in terms of voicing initial obstruents (Clumeck, Barton, Macken, & Huntington, 1981; W. Y. P. Wong, 2006) than permitting releases of final obstruents, which is categorically prohibited Bauer & Benedict (2011); Khouw & Ciocca (2006). Neither Cantonese-English bilingual initial voicing nor word-final stop release patterns were significantly impacted by language mode. These results provide evidence that the phonetic variation in crosslinguistically linked categories in bilingual speech is shaped by the distribution of phonetic variation within each language, thus suggesting a mechanistic account for why some segments are more susceptible to cross-language influence than others in studies of mutual influence.

scholarly journals Phonemic status of Bangla nasal vowels: A corpus study

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-62
Author(s):  
Md Jahurul ISLAM
Keyword(s):  
Current Literature ◽  
Text Corpus ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Nasal Vowels ◽  
The Status ◽  
Phonemic Status

This study investigated the phonemic status of the nasal vowels in Bangla (aka Bengali). It has been claimed for decades that all the seven monophthongal oral vowels in Bangla have phonemically contrastive nasal counterparts; however, an in-depth investigation of the status of nasality for all the vowels is lacking in the current literature. With a phoneme dictionary build from a text corpus of 8 (eight) million word-tokens and about 275 thousand word-types, this study investigated whether all the oral vowels have phonemically contrastive nasal vowels. Findings revealed that only five of the seven monophthongal vowels form phonemically contrastive relationships with their nasal counterparts; nasality in /æ/ and /ɔ/ are not contrastive phonemically.

scholarly journals The Inflected Alarm Caw of the American Crow: Differences in Acoustic Structure Among Individuals and Sexes

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Yorzinski ◽  
Sandra L. Vehrencamp ◽  
Kevin J. McGowan ◽  
Anne B. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
American Crow ◽  
Acoustic Structure ◽  
Corvus Brachyrhynchos ◽  
Call Structure ◽  
American Crows ◽  
The Status ◽  
Family Membership

Abstract Previous research on individual differences in the acoustic structure of vocalizations and vocal recognition has largely focused on the contexts of parent-offspring interactions, territory defense, sexual interactions, and group cohesion. In contrast, few studies have examined individual differences in the acoustic structure of mobbing and alarm calls. The purpose of this study was to explore individual differences in the acoustic structure of the inflected alarm caw of the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). The alarm caws of 15 wild, marked individuals were recorded and 25 acoustic measurements were made automatically using customized software. A stepwise discriminant function analysis showed that 20 of the 25 variables were important in discriminating among individuals, with 65% classification success. We used factor analysis to reduce the large number of variables to a set of seven meaningful call features. All of these features differed among individuals, suggesting that American Crows have the potential to discriminate among individual birds on the basis of call structure alone. Five of the features differed between the sexes, with call frequency being the most significant. One clearly subordinate male clustered with the females, raising the possibility that social status partially determines the sex-based differences. Encoding of individual identity in alarm contexts may be adaptive if receiver vigilance and approach urgency depend on the status, reliability, or family membership of the alarm signaler.

scholarly journals The Contributions of Crosslinguistic Influence and Individual Differences to Nonnative Speech Perception

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Charles B. Chang ◽  
Sungmi Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Posttest Performance ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Nonnative Language ◽  
Stages Of Learning ◽  
Learner Differences ◽  
L2 Perception ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Nonnative Speech Perception

Perception of a nonnative language (L2) is known to be affected by crosslinguistic transfer from a listener’s native language (L1), but the relative importance of L1 transfer vis-a-vis individual learner differences remains unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that the nature of L1 transfer changes as learners gain experience with the L2, such that individual differences are more influential at earlier stages of learning and L1 transfer is more influential at later stages of learning. To test this hypothesis, novice L2 learners of Korean from diverse L1 backgrounds were examined in a pretest-posttest design with respect to their perceptual acquisition of novel L2 consonant contrasts (the three-way Korean laryngeal contrast among lenis, fortis, and aspirated plosives) and vowel contrasts (/o/-/ʌ/, /u/-/ɨ/). Whereas pretest performance showed little evidence of L1 effects, posttest performance showed significant L1 transfer. Furthermore, pretest performance did not predict posttest performance. These findings support the view that L1 knowledge influences L2 perception dynamically, according to the amount of L2 knowledge available to learners at that time. That is, both individual differences and L1 knowledge play a role in L2 perception, but to different degrees over the course of L2 development.

Acoustic Correlates of Breathy Vocal Quality: Dysphonic Voices and Continuous Speech

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hillenbrand ◽  
Robert A. Houde
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Relative Amplitude ◽  
Harmonic Amplitude ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Vocal Quality ◽  
Spectral Tilt

In an earlier study, we evaluated the effectiveness of several acoustic measures in predicting breathiness ratings for sustained vowels spoken by nonpathological talkers who were asked to produce nonbreathy, moderately breathy, and very breathy phonation (Hillenbrand, Cleveland, & Erickson, 1994). The purpose of the present study was to extend these results to speakers with laryngeal pathologies and to conduct tests using connected speech in addition to sustained vowels. Breathiness ratings were obtained from a sustained vowel and a 12-word sentence spoken by 20 pathological and 5 nonpathological talkers. Acoustic measures were made of (a) signal periodicity, (b) first harmonic amplitude, and (c) spectral tilt. For the sustained vowels, a frequency domain measure of periodicity provided the most accurate predictions of perceived breathiness, accounting for 92% of the variance in breathiness ratings. The relative amplitude of the first harmonic and two measures of spectral tilt correlated moderately with breathiness ratings. For the sentences, both signal periodicity and spectral tilt provided accurate predictions of breathiness ratings, accounting for 70%-85% of the variance.

scholarly journals Acoustic Correlates of Breathy Vocal Quality

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hillenbrand ◽  
Ronald A. Cleveland ◽  
Robert L. Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Magnitude Estimation ◽  
Estimation Procedure ◽  
Harmonic Amplitude ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Vocal Quality ◽  
Normal Women ◽  
Normal Men ◽  
Spectral Tilt

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of several acoustic measures in predicting breathiness ratings. Recordings were made of eight normal men and seven normal women producing normally phonated, moderately breathy, and very breathy sustained vowels. Twenty listeners rated the degree of breathiness using a direct magnitude estimation procedure. Acoustic measures were made of: (a) signal periodicity, (b) first harmonic amplitude, and (c) spectral tilt. Periodicity measures provided the most accurate predictions of perceived breathiness, accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in breathiness ratings. The relative amplitude of the first harmonic correlated moderately with breathiness ratings, and two measures of spectral tilt correlated weakly with perceived breathiness.

scholarly journals L1 phonological effects on L2 (non-)naïve perception: A cross-language investigation of the oral–nasal vowel contrast in Brazilian Portuguese

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110449
Author(s):  
Ruth Maria Martinez ◽  
Heather Goad ◽  
Michael Dow
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
The Status ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Quebec French ◽  
Caribbean Spanish ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Vowel Contrast ◽  
Cross Language

Feature-based approaches to acquisition principally focus on second language (L2) learners’ ability to perceive non-native consonants when the features required are either contrastively present or entirely absent from the first language (L1) grammar. As features may function contrastively or allophonically in the consonant and/or vowel systems of a language, we expand the scope of this research to address whether features that function contrastively in the L1 vowel system can be recombined to yield new vowels in the L2; whether features that play a contrastive role in the L1 consonant system can be reassigned to build new vowels in the L2; and whether L1 allophonic features can be ‘elevated’ to contrastive status in the L2. We examine perception of the oral–nasal contrast in Brazilian Portuguese listeners from French, English, Caribbean Spanish, and non-Caribbean Spanish backgrounds, languages that differ in the status assigned to [nasal] in their vowel systems. An AXB discrimination task revealed that, although all language groups succeeded in perceiving the non-naïve contrast /e/–/ẽ/ due to their previous exposure to Québec French while living in Montréal, Canada, only French and Caribbean Spanish speakers succeeded in discriminating the naïve contrast /i/–/ĩ/. These findings suggest that feature redeployment at first exposure is only possible if the feature is contrastive in the L1 vowel system (French) or if the feature is allophonic but variably occurs in contrastive contexts in the L1 vowel system (Caribbean Spanish). With more exposure to a non-native contrast, however, feature redeployment from consonant to vowel systems was also supported, as was the possibility that allophonic features may be elevated to contrastive status in the L2.

scholarly journals Leveraging the uniformity framework to examine crosslinguistic similarity for long-lag stops in spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khia A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Phonetic Convergence ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language

While crosslinguistic influence is widespread in bilingual speech production, it is less clear which aspects of representation are shared across languages, if any. Most prior work examines phonetically distinct yet phonologically similar sounds, for which phonetic convergence suggests a cross-language link within individuals [1]. Convergence is harder to assess when sounds are already similar, as with English and Cantonese initial long-lag stops. Here, the articulatory uniformity framework [2, 3, 4] is leveraged to assess whether bilinguals share an underlying laryngeal feature across languages, and describe the nature of cross-language links. Using the SpiCE corpus of spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech [5], this paper asks whether Cantonese-English bilinguals exhibit uniform voice-onset time for long-lag stops within and across languages. Results indicate moderate patterns of uniformity within-language—replicating prior work [2, 6]—and weaker patterns across languages. The analysis, however, raises many questions, as correlations were generally lower compared to prior work, and talkers did not adhere to expected ordinal VOT relationships by place of articulation. Talkers also retained clear differences for /t/ and /k/, despite expectations of similarity. Yet at the same time, more of the overall variation seems to derive from individual-specific differences. While many questions remain, the uniformity framework shows promise.

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