Perception of voicing in English fricatives by Spanish listeners

  1. Barreiro Bilbao, Silvia Carmen 1
  1. 1 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
    info

    Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02msb5n36

Revista:
Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación

ISSN: 1576-4737

Año de publicación: 2017

Número: 69

Páginas: 33-66

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.5209/CLAC.55313 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación

Resumen

Speech contrasts which are not functionally distinctive in the mother tongue are difficult to differentiate perceptually for non-native listeners. A two-fold experiment was carried out in order to investigate the L2 perception by 26 Spanish listeners of English, with an English group used as a control. In the present paper, listeners were exposed to the English contrast /s/ vs. /z/, which is not phonemic in Spanish, in two synthesized words, Sue and zoo. The results showed that there were listeners who had already acquired the contrast with some language-specific differences in the use of some of the acoustic cues that signalled this contrast. Furthermore there was no correlation between the results obtained and the variables age of L2 learning, length of L2 learning, or listener’s age. Final conclusions will be drawn from this research and the previous work devoted to place of articulation differences.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Álvarez-González, J. A. (1980). Vocalismo español y vocalismo inglés [Spanish and English vowels]. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
  • Álvarez-González, J. A. (1982). Duration of English consonants. Anglo-American Studies, II/1, 49-62.
  • Balise, R. R., & Diehl, R. L. (1994). Some distributional facts about fricatives and a perceptual explanation. Phonetica 51(1-3), 99-110.
  • Barreiro, S. C. (1994). Análisis acústico descriptivo de fricativas español-inglés: estudio comparativo. Unpublished PhD thesis. León: University of León.
  • Barreiro, S. C. (2014). Fricatives revisited. In R. Monroy-Casas, R. & I. Arboleda-Guirao (Eds.), Readings in English Phonetics and Phonology (pp. 51-88). I. Valencia: IULMA, University of Valencia.
  • Barreiro, S. C. (2015). Perception of place of articulation in English fricatives by Spanish listeners.VIAL, Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics 12, 37-62.
  • Baum, S. R. & Blumstein, S. E. (1987). Preliminary observations on the use of duration as a cue to syllable-initial fricative consonant voicing in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 82, 1073.
  • Behrens, S. & Blumstein, S. E. (1988). Acoustic characteristics of English voiceless fricatives: a descriptive analysis. Journal of Phonetics 16, 295-298.
  • Best, C. T., McRoberts, G.W. & Goodell, E. (2001). Discrimination of non-native consonant contrasts varying in perceptual assimilation to the listener’s native phonological system. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 109, 775.
  • Best, C. T. & Tyler, M. D. (2007). Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities. In O.S. Bohn & M.J. Munro (Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Best, C. T. & Strange, W. (1992). Effects of experience and phonetic factors on cross-language perception of approximants. Journal of Phonetics 20, 305-330.
  • Bohn, O. S. (1995). What determines the Perceptual Difficulty encountered in the Acquisition of Nonnative Contrasts? Proceedings of ICPhS 95, Stockholm 4, 84-91.
  • Bohn O. S. & Flege, J. E. (1990). Interlingual identification and the role of foreign language experience in L2 vowel perception. Applied Psycholinguistics 11, 303-328.
  • Boomershine, A., Hall, K. C., Hume, E. & Johnson, K. (2008). The impact of allophony versus contrast on speech perception. Contrast in phonology theory, perception, acquisition, 145-172.
  • Bradlow, A. & Pisoni, D. B. (1999). Recognition of spoken words by native and non-native listeners: Talker-, listener-, and item-related factors. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 106, 2074-2085.
  • Broersma, M. (2005). Perception of familiar contrasts in unfamiliar positions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117(6), 3890-3901.
  • Broersma, M. (2010). Perception of final fricative voicing: Native and non-native listeners’ use of vowel duration. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 127(3), 1636-1644.
  • Cebrian, J. (2009). Effects of native language and amount of experience on crosslinguistic perception. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 125, 2775.
  • Cole R. A. & Cooper, W.E. (1975). Perception of voicing in English affricates and fricatives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 59, 1208.
  • Crystal, T. H. & House, A. S. (1988a). Segmental durations in connected-speech signals: Current results. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 83, 1553–1573.
  • Crystal, T. H. & House, A. S. (1988b). Segmental durations in connected-speech signals: Syllabic stress. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 84, 1574–1585.
  • de Manrique, A. M. B., & Massone, M. I. (1981). Acoustic analysis and perception of Spanish fricative consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 69(4), 1145-1153.
  • Denes, P. B. (1955). Effect of duration on the perception of voicing. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 27, 761-764.
  • Derwing, T. M. & Munro, M. J. (2013). The development of L2 oral language skills in two L1 groups: A 7-year study. Language Learning, 63(2), 163-185.
  • Dmitrieva, O. (2014). Final voicing and devoicing in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 136(4), 2174-2174.
  • Docherty, G. J. (1992). The timing of voicing in British English obstruents (9). Berlin: Foris.
  • Escudero, P.& Boersma, P. (2004). Bridging the gap between L2 speech perception research and phonological theory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 26(4), 551-585.
  • Flege, J. E. (1984). The effects of linguistic experience of Arabs’ perception of the English /s/ vs. /z/ contrast. Folia Linguist 18, 117-138.
  • Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language learning: theories, findings and problems. Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Theoretical and Methodological Issues. Ed. W. Strange. Timonium MD: York Press.
  • Flege, J. E. (1998). Second-Language Learning: The Role of Subject and Phonetic Variables. Proceedings of the ESCA-StiLL 98. Marholmen, Sweden, 1-8.
  • Flege, J. E. & Eefting, W. (1987). Production and perception of English stops by native Spanish speakers. Journal of Phonetics 15, 67-83.
  • Flege, J. E., & Hillenbrand, J. (1986). Differential use of temporal cues to the/s/–/z/contrast by native and non-native speakers of English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 79(2), 508-517.
  • Glicksman, L. B. & Stevens, K.N. (1988). Some parameters affecting the perception of voicing for fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 84(S1), 58-59 (A).
  • Hall, K. C., Hume, E., Johnson, K., & Reiter, A. (2004). The influence of language experience on perception: The case of Spanish and English. OSU Hispanic Linguistics Colloquium.
  • Giavazzi, M. & Cho, H. (2008). On the perception of voicing in strident fricatives. http://web.mit.edu/magia/www/docs/ChoGiavazzi_2008.pdf.
  • Giavazzi, M. & Cho, H. (2008). Perception of voicing in fricatives. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.370.725&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
  • Gordon, P. C. (1989). Contexts effects in recognizing syllable-final /z/ and /s/ in different phrasal positions. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 86, 1698-1707.
  • Harris, K. S. (1958). Cues for the discrimination of American English fricatives in spoken syllables. Language and Speech 1, 1–7.
  • Hazan, V. L. & Boulakia, G. (1993). Perception and production of a voicing contrast by French-English bilinguals. Language and Speech 36, 17-38.
  • Hazan, V. L. & Fourcin, A. F. (1985). Microprocessor-controlled Speech Pattern Audiometry. Audiology 24, 325-335.
  • Hazan, V. L., Wilson, G., Howells, D., Miller, D., Abberton, E. & Fourcin, A.F. (1995). Speech pattern audiometry for clinical use. European Journal of Disorders of Communication 30, 116-123.
  • Hedrick, M. S. & Ohde, R.N. (1993). Effect of relative amplitude of frication on perception of place of articulation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 94, 2005-26.
  • Hogan, J. T., & Rozsypal, A. J. (1980). Evaluation of vowel duration as a cue for the voicing distinction in the following word_final consonant. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 67, 1764.
  • House, A. S. (1961). On vowel duration in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 33(9), 1174-1178.
  • Hughes, G.W. & Halle, M. (1956). Spectral properties of fricative consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 28, 303–310.
  • Ingerman, F. (1960). Formants as voicing cue in the perception of /s/. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 66, 1700.
  • Jesus, L. M., & Shadle, C. H. (2002). A parametric study of the spectral characteristics of European Portuguese fricatives. Journal of Phonetics 30(3), 437-464.
  • Jesus, L. M., & Shadle, C. H. (2003). Temporal and devoicing analysis of European Portuguese fricatives. Proceedings of ICPhS 2003. Barcelona: 779-782.
  • Johnson, K. (2004). Cross-linguistic perceptual differences emerge from the lexicon. In A. W. Warren & S.H. Park (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2003 Texas Linguistics Society Conference: Coarticulation in speech production and perception. Sommerville/ MA: Cascadilla Press: 26-41.
  • Jongman, A. (1985). Duration of frication noise as a perceptual cue. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 77(S1), S26(A).
  • Jongman, A. (1989). Duration of frication noise required for the identification of English fricatives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 85(4), 1718-1725
  • Jongman, A., Sereno, J. A., Wayland, R. & Wong, S. (2000). Acoustic characteristics of English fricatives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 118, 1252–1263.
  • Kabak B. & Maniwa, K. (2007). L2 perception of English fricatives in clear and conversational speech: The role of phonemic, phonetic and acoustic factors. Proceedings of ICPhS 2007. Saarbrücken, 781-784.
  • Lasky, R. E., Syrdal-Lasky, A. & Klein, R. (1975). VOT discrimination by four to six and a half month old infants from Spanish environments. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 20, 215-225.
  • Mackain, K. N., & Best, C. T. & Strange, W. (1981). Categorical perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics 2, 360-390.
  • Maniwa, K., Jongman, A. & Wade, T. (2008). Perception of clear English fricatives by normal-hearing and simulated hearing-impaired listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 123, 1114–1125.
  • Maniwa, K., Jongman, A. & Wade, T. (2009). Acoustic characteristics of clearly spoken English fricatives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 125(6), 3962-73.
  • Mann, V. A. (1992). Native language factors affecting use of vocalic cues to final consonant voicing in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 92, 711.
  • Mann, V. A. & Repp, B. H. (1980). Influence of vocalic context on perception of the [ʃ]-[s] distinction: III Acoustic observations. Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research 62, 177-85.
  • Maxwell, E. M. & Weismer, G. (1982). The contribution of phonological, acoustic, and perceptual techniques to the characterization of a misarticulating child’s voice contrast for stops. Applied Psycholinguistics 3(01), 29–43.
  • Mayo, L. H., Florentine, M. & Buus, S. (1997). Age of Second-Language Acquisition and Perception of Speech in Noise. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 40, 686-693.
  • McCasland, G. P. (1983). The noise cues of English and Spanish fricatives. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 73(S1), S30.
  • McMurray, B. & Jongman, A. (2011). What information is necessary for speech categorization? Harnessing variability in the speech signal by integrating cues computed relative to expectations. Psychological Review 118(2), 219-246.
  • Moreno Llaneza, M. A. (1990). Transiciones vocálicas y punto de articulación consonántico. Estudios de Fonética Experimental IV (pp. 52-102). Barcelona: PPU, Laboratorio de Fonética, Facultad de Filología, Universidad de Barcelona.
  • Pirello, K., Blumstein, S.E. & Kurowski, K. (1997). The characteristics of voicing in syllable-initial in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 101, 3754.
  • Polka, L. 1991. Cross-language speech perception in adults: Phonemic, phonetic, and acoustic contributions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 89, 2961-2976.
  • Purcell, E. T. & Suter, R.W. (1980). Predictors of pronunciation accuracy: A re-examination. Language Learning 30(2), 271-287.
  • Raphael, L. J. (1972). Preceding vowel duration as a Cue to Perception of the Voicing Characteristic of Word-Final Consonants in American English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 51(4), 1296-1303.
  • Raphael, L. J., Borden, G. J. & Harris, K.S. (2011). Speech Science Primer: Physiology, Acoustics, and Perception of Speech. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Repp, B. H. & Mann, V.A. (1980). Influence of vocalic context on perception of the [ʃ]- [s] distinction: II spectral factors. Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research 61, 65-84.
  • Silbert, N. & de Jong, K. (2008). Focus, prosodic context, and phonological feature specification: Patterns of variation in fricative production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 123(5), 2769-2779.
  • Smith, C. L. (1997). The devoicing of /z/ in American English: effects of local and prosodic context. Journal of Phonetics 25(4), 471-500.
  • Soli, S. D. (1981). Second formant in fricatives: Acoustic consequences of fricative-vowel coarticulation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 70, 976-984.
  • Stevens, K. N., Blumstein, S.E., Glicksman, L., Burton, M. & Kurowski, K. (1992). Acoustic and perceptual characteristics of voicing in fricatives and fricative clusters. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 91, 2979-3000.
  • Strange, W. & Jenkins, J. J. (1978). The role of linguistic experience in the perception of speech. In R.D. Walk & H.L. Pick (Eds.), Perception and Experience. New York: Plenum Press, 125-169.
  • Underbakke, M., Polka, L., Gottfried, T.L. & Strange, W. (1988). Trading relations in the perception of /r/-/l/ by Japanese learners of English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 84, 90-100.
  • Yamada, R. A. & Tohkura, Y. (1992). The effects of experimental variables on the perception of American English /r/-/l/ by Japanese listeners. Perception and Psychophysics 52, 376-379.
  • Werker, J. F. & Logan, J. S. (1985). Cross-language evidence for three factors in speech perception. Perception and Psychophysics 37, 35-44.
  • Williams, L. (1977). The perception of stop consonant voicing by Spanish-English bilinguals. Perception and Psychophysics 21(4), 289-297.
  • Wilde, L. F. (1993). Inferring articulatory movements from acoustic properties at fricative vowel boundaries. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 94, 1881.
  • Wilde, L. F. (1995). Analysis and synthesis of fricative consonants. PhD thesis, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, U.S.A.
  • Wright, R. (2001). “Perceptual cues in contrast maintenance”. In H. Elizabeth & J. Keith (Eds.), The role of speech perception phenomena in phonology. San Diego: Academic Press, 251-277.
  • Wright, R. (2004). A review of perceptual cues and cue robustness. Phonetically based phonology, 34-57.
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet