Dissertation research: Phonological and phonetic influences on speech perception
Modelling the interaction between phonological knowledge and phonetic bias in speech perception
This dissertation project endeavors to examine how and to what extent knowledge of various kinds of phonological generalizations and phonetic biases influence speech perception. The aim is to propose a model of perception that explains how and when phonological knowledge and phonetic bias are related. Perceptual effects of phonological knowledge and phonetic bias have been widely reported in the literature -- in general they alter the output of a listener's auditory transduction of the acoustic signal, causing a mismatch between acoustic and psychoacoustic qualities or values of qualities.
The
empirical goal of this project is
to test for possible influences introduced by knowledge of various
kinds of phonological generalizations in the laboratory. I
also
plan to experimentally pit phonological knowledge against known
phonetic biases to see how conflicting influences are perceptually
resolved.
Phonological knowledge and discriminability
Is a listener's phonological knowledge applied to speech perception in a module that is autonomous from that in which auditory processing happens? In particular, does the knowledge of a process that neutralizes two sounds in some context make it difficult to discriminate the sounds in that context? The result of two experiments addressing these questions with English place assimilation and French voicing assimilation on English and French listeners (i) show that the answers to these questions depend on the kind of discrimination task used, and (ii) suggest that response latencies do not determine the answer.
References:
Key, Michael (in press). Autonomous relations between phonological and phonetic encoding in perception. In: Suzi Lima, Kevin Mullin, and Brian Smith (eds.) Proceedings of NELS 39. Amherst, MA: GLSA.
Key, Michael (2008). Interactive and autonomous modes of speech perception: Phonological discrimination in English and French listeners. Paper presented at LabPhon11, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. 30 June 2008.
Dialect-specific perception: /r/-epenthesis and deletion in Boston English
Are the phonotactics of a listener's native dialect applied as a filter on his/her perception of speech? I am currently running a categorization experiment looking at whether phonotactic restrictions concerning /r/ in the Boston dialect increase or decrease the likelihood of perceiving /r/'s presence for native Boston listeners as a function of context. (See McCarthy 1993 for an extensive discussion and analysis of the distribution of /r/ in the Boston dialect.)
Experiment background and design [PDF]
Stimuli: Intervocalic [r]-to-zero continuum [WAV]
Stimuli: Coda [r]-to-zero continuum [WAV]
Auditory and categorical effects on speech perception
Reference:
Kingston, John, Kawahara, Shigeto, Chambless, Della, Key, Michael and Sarah Watsky (2008). The independence of auditory and categorical effects on speech perception. Poster presented at LabPhon11, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. 30 June - 2 July 2008.