On segmental representations in second language phonology: A perceptual account

The extent to which exposure to new phonemic contrasts (i.e. contrasts that are present in the L2 but not in the L1) will lead to the creation of a new phonemic category in L2 speakers, as well as the phonological nature of these categories, remains an open question insofar as there is no consensus on whether acquiring a new contrast would result in abstract, phoneme-like categories, or if they belong to a less abstract level of representation. This work explores the perception of the /ɑ/–/ʌ/ contrast ( cop – cup) in American English by Spanish speakers of L2 English through a discrimination task. The results show that while the interlanguage state of less experienced learners is best described as a case of single-category assimilation, the interlanguage state achieved by advanced learners is not a full phonemic split, despite the increased sensitivity to otherwise within-category perceptual cues; rather, it seems that while the ability to perceive differences is not affected, the ability to create a new phonemic representation is impaired.

Cross-level Correspondence in Q Theory

This paper examines cross-level interactions in basic systems modeling segmental harmony in Q theory (Shih & Inkelas 2019, S&I; see also Inkelas & Shih 2015, 2017). Q theory is a theory of segmental representations that decomposes segments (Qs) into linear strings of subsegments (qs). The component qs can differ in feature values, resulting in Qs with contour tones. S&I present Q theory as an alternative to autosegmental representations and use Agreement-by-correspondence (ABC; Rose & Walker 2004, Hansson 2010, Bennett 2015) analyses to derive various kinds of harmony and dissimilation patterns, particularly those involving tones. This paper shows that while the Q theory typologies share the characteristic structures of ABC(D) systems (Bennett & DelBusso 2018, DelBusso & Bennett to appear) at both qand Qlevels, these (sets of) properties interact in more complex embedded structures.

Separability of Tones and Rhymes in Chinese Speech Perception: Evidence from Perceptual Migrations

This study used the perceptual-migration paradigm to explore whether Mandarin tones and syllable rhymes are processed separately during Mandarin speech perception. Following the logic of illusory conjunctions, we calculated the cross-ear migration of tones, rhymes, and their combination in Chinese and English listeners. For Chinese listeners, tones migrated more than rhymes. For English listeners, the opposite pattern was found. The results lend empirical support to autosegmental theory, which claims separability and mobility between tonal and segmental representations. They also provide evidence that such representations and their involvement in perception are deeply shaped by a listener’s linguistic experience.

Effects of onset density in preschool children: Implications for development of phonological awareness and phonological representation

ABSTRACTNeighborhood density influences adult performance on several word processing tasks. Some studies show age-related effects of density on children's performance, reflecting a developmental restructuring of the mental lexicon from holistic into segmental representations that may play a role in phonological awareness. To further investigate density effects and their implications for development of phonological awareness, we compared performance on dense and sparse onset words. We adapted these materials to three phonological awareness tests that were pretested on adults then administered to preschool children who were expected to vary in phonological awareness skills. For both the adults and the children who passed a phonological awareness screening task, dense onset neighborhoods were associated with slower reaction times and increased errors. A separate comparison of word repetition by the children who passed and who did not pass the phoneme awareness screening failed to provide evidence that lexical restructuring was a sufficient condition for the attainment of phonological awareness. Both groups of children more accurately repeated words from high onset density neighborhoods, regardless of the level of their phonological awareness. Thus, we find no evidence of either age- or ability-driven effects in children's performance, contradictory to a view that the attainment of phoneme awareness relates to developmental changes in the segmental representation of words in dense neighborhoods.

A Structural Account of Root Node Deletion in Loanword Phonology

Paradis and LaCharité (1996, 1997) have proposed a model of loanword adaptation, couched within theTheory of Constraints and Repair Strategies(Paradis 1988a,b). One of the mechanisms used in their model, called the Threshold Principle, first advanced by Paradis, Lebel, and LaCharité (1993), poses problems. This principle, whose implementation implies arithmetic counting, goes counter to standard views of generative phonology against counting. In this article, an analysis of deletion contexts found in loanwords which accounts for the data observed on structural grounds only is developed without any appeal to arithmetic counting. Based on the adaptation of French rising diphthongs and nasal vowels in two languages, Fula and Kinyarwanda, it is argued that an analysis based solely on the segmental representations of the foreign forms to adapt and the segmental and syllabic constraints of the borrowing language is sufficient to make correct predictions regarding the adaptation patterns found in these languages.

Dorsal Horn Spatial Representation of Simple Cutaneous Stimuli

Brown, Paul B., Ronald Millecchia, Jeffrey J. Lawson, Stephanie Stephens, Paul Harton, and James C. Culberson. Dorsal horn spatial representation of simple cutaneous stimuli. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 983–998, 1998. A model of lamina III–IV dorsal horn cell receptive fields (RFs) has been developed to visualize the spatial patterns of cells activated by light touch stimuli. Low-threshold mechanoreceptive fields (RFs) of 551 dorsal horn neurons recorded in anesthetized cats were characterized by location of RF center in cylindrical coordinates, area, length/width ratio, and orientation of long axis. Best-fitting ellipses overlapped actual RFs by 90%. Exponentially smoothed mean and variance surfaces were estimated for these five variables, on a grid of 40 points mediolaterally by 20/segment rostrocaudally in dorsal horn segments L4–S1. The variations of model RF location, area, and length/width ratio with map location were all similar to previous observations. When elliptical RFs were simulated at the locations of the original cells, the RFs of real and simulated cells overlapped by 64%. The densities of cell representations of skin points on the hindlimb were represented as pseudocolor contour plots on dorsal view maps, and segmental representations were plotted on the standard views of the leg. Overlap of modeled and real segmental representations was at the 84% level. Simulated and observed RFs had similar relations between area and length/width ratio and location on the hindlimb: r( A) = 0.52; r( L/ W) = 0.56. Although the representation of simple stimuli was orderly, and there was clearly only one somatotopic map of the skin, the representation of a single point often was not a single cluster of active neurons. When two-point stimuli were simulated, there usually was no fractionation of response zones or addition of new zones. Variation of stimulus size (area of skin contacted) produced less variation of representation size (number of cells responding) than movement of stimuli from one location to another. We conclude that stimulus features are preserved poorly in their dorsal horn spatial representation and that discrimination mechanisms that depend on detection of such features in the spatial representation would be unreliable.