|
|
|
|
|
The
Speech Perception Laboratory Institute
for Advanced Study of the Communication Processes (IASCP) Project:
Perceptual category access in bilingual listeners Staff:
Jenna Silver, James Harnsberger, Kelly Jones, Melissa Iandoli Funding: SPARC award (ASHA), 9/2005 to 9/2006 Relevant publications and conference presentations: · Silver, J. and Harnsberger, J. D. “The organization of bilingual perceptual consonant space: English/Spanish bilingual perception of Malayalam nasal consonants.” Master’s thesis, 2007. ·
Silver, J. and Harnsberger, J. D. “The organization of bilingual
perceptual consonant space: English/Spanish bilingual perception of Malayalam
nasal consonants.” Presented at the 152nd Meeting of the Acoustical
Society of The proposed study concerns the effects of
bilingual development on the acquisition of the phonology and phonetics of
another language in adulthood. The questions of interest include: Do
bilinguals use a “merged” speech sound system in perception and
learning, or are both systems equally active in perceiving and producing
speech? Does the acquisition of two languages with different inventories of
speech sounds aid in the acquisition of similar, though not identical, speech
sounds in a third language learned? Can we predict the relative difficulty of
learning different non-native speech sounds given a phonetic description of
the bilingual’s full inventory of speech sounds? To what extent do
patterns in the perception of non-native speech sounds influence production
in a second language (i.e., the contribution of perception to accent)?
Specifically, we will examine the extent to which English-Spanish bilinguals
can use speech sounds in both languages to acquire the phonological contrasts
of Malayalam, a language spoken in southern |
|
|
|
|
|
Last Updated 06-13-07 |
