Perception of illusory clusters: the role of native timing.

We explore the influence of native timing patterns on nonnative speech perception, by asking whether a nonnative CVCV sequence can be perceived as CCV when the temporal organization of nonnative CVCV is similar to native CCV. To explore this question, Georgian listeners are tested on a CCa-CVCá discrimination in French. Georgian has a rich word-onset cluster inventory, with component consonants loosely timed. The loose timing often, though not always, results in a schwa-like CC transition. French, the stimulus language, exhibits tighter timing in biconsonantal clusters, no vocalic transitions, and a reduced non-prominent first vowel in CVCá sequences. We hypothesize that the cross-language difference in inter-consonantal timing can facilitate the perception of an illusory cluster when Georgian listeners hear French CVCá. The findings reveal such perceptual confusion, particularly in the CCa-CøCá contrast in which the nonnative /ø/ is phonetically similar to the CC transition in Georgian, both in terms of temporal organizations and tongue shape. This confirms the possibility of illusory clusters, which is consistent with the interpretation that Georgian listeners utilize their knowledge of how word-onset CC clusters are temporally implemented in their native language when responding to the task. We propose that the timing pattern may constitute language-specific knowledge and that it can influence the perceptual assimilation patterns in nonnative speech perception.

Bilingual phonological contrast perception: The influence of Quanzhou Southern Min on Mandarin non-sibilant fricative discrimination.

This study explores the discrimination of Mandarin non-sibilant fricatives by bilingual speakers (N = 40) of Quanzhou Southern Min (L1) and Mandarin (L2) in different phonological contexts, including rounded vowels and the glide [w]. The results of the ABX discrimination task indicate significant contextual effects of the following sound, in line with predictions based on the Perceptual Assimilation model (PAM) [Best (1995). J. Phon. 20(3), 305-330]. Additionally, the observed result could not be fully explained by the acoustic distance between stimuli, and discrimination ability was better for speakers with more exposure to and use of Mandarin.

Difficult to hear but easy to see: Audio-visual perception of the /r/-/w/ contrast in Anglo-English.

This paper investigates the influence of visual cues in the perception of the /r/-/w/ contrast in Anglo-English. Audio-visual perception of Anglo-English /r/ warrants attention because productions are increasingly non-lingual, labiodental (e.g., [ʋ]), possibly involving visual prominence of the lips for the post-alveolar approximant [ɹ]. Forty native speakers identified [ɹ] and [w] stimuli in four presentation modalities: auditory-only, visual-only, congruous audio-visual, and incongruous audio-visual. Auditory stimuli were presented in noise. The results indicate that native Anglo-English speakers can identify [ɹ] and [w] from visual information alone with almost perfect accuracy. Furthermore, visual cues dominate the perception of the /r/-/w/ contrast when auditory and visual cues are mismatched. However, auditory perception is ambiguous because participants tend to perceive both [ɹ] and [w] as /r/. Auditory ambiguity is related to Anglo-English listeners' exposure to acoustic variation for /r/, especially to [ʋ], which is often confused with [w]. It is suggested that a specific labial configuration for Anglo-English /r/ encodes the contrast with /w/ visually, compensating for the ambiguous auditory contrast. An audio-visual enhancement hypothesis is proposed, and the findings are discussed with regard to sound change.