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The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech...
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The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2023) | Viewed by 4861

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Joseph V. Casillas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Spanish and Portuguse, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Interests: phonetics/phonology; speech production; perception; spoken-word recognition; second language acquisition; bilingualism; statistics; data visualization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite proposals for contributions to an upcoming Special Issue entitled “The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production”. Researchers are paying increasingly more attention to the role of input as a predictor of success in L2 segmental production and perception. A primary motivation of this shift is the increased skepticism of the view that maturational factors associated with normal development (e.g., the closure of a supposed critical period) will explain most or all observed inter-subject variability in studies of L2 production and perception. Existing research focusing on language experience has been wide-ranging in terms of research design and the participants examined. It has included the study of monolinguals who attempt to classify and/or repeat the sounds of an unknown language, research examining the performance of students in L2 classrooms, and the study of individuals who have been immersed in an L2 for short (e.g., study abroad programs) or long periods (e.g., immigration). The primary goal of this Special Issue is to identify and highlight similarities and differences that arise from research examining participants who differ so widely in language experience. The Special Issue will contribute to this line of research by consolidating novel studies examining how language experience shapes speech perception and speech production in L2 learning. We encourage proposals that employ innovative research techniques and/or examine novel learner populations, which can include but are certainly not limited to the following: naïve listeners producing/perceiving unknown languages, second language classroom learners, immersion experiences (study abroad/domestic immersion, missionaries, etc.), and long-term immigration.

Prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors are invited to submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editor ([email protected]) and CC the Languages Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Tentative completion schedule:

  • Abstract submission deadline: 20 April 2023
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: 20 May 2023
  • Full manuscript deadline: 20 December 2023

Dr. Joseph V. Casillas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • language experience
  • language use
  • language input
  • bilingualism
  • speech production
  • speech perception
  • L2 learning
  • acoustic phonetics
  • L2 classroom
  • study abroad
  • domestic immersion

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3739 KiB  
Article
Segmenting Speech: The Role of Resyllabification in Spanish Phonology
by Iván Andreu Rascón
Languages 2024, 9(11), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9110346 - 7 Nov 2024
Viewed by 591
Abstract
Humans segment speech naturally based on the transitional probabilities between linguistic elements. For bilingual speakers navigating between a first (L1) and a second language (L2), L1 knowledge can influence their perception, leading to transfer effects based on phonological similarities or differences. Specifically, in [...] Read more.
Humans segment speech naturally based on the transitional probabilities between linguistic elements. For bilingual speakers navigating between a first (L1) and a second language (L2), L1 knowledge can influence their perception, leading to transfer effects based on phonological similarities or differences. Specifically, in Spanish, resyllabification occurs when consonants at the end of a syllable or word boundary are repositioned as the onset of the subsequent syllable. While the process can lead to ambiguities in perception, current academic discussions debate the duration of canonical and resyllabified productions. However, the role of bilingualism in the visual perception of syllable and word segmentation remains unknown to date. The present study explores the use of bilingual skills in the perception of articulatory movements and visual cues in speech perception, addressing the gap in the literature regarding the visibility of syllable pauses in lipreading. The participants in this study, 80 native Spanish speakers and 195 L2 learners, were subjected to audio, visual-only, and audiovisual conditions to assess their segmentation accuracy. The results indicated that both groups could segment speech effectively, with audiovisual cues providing the most significant benefit. Native speakers performed more consistently, while proficiency influenced L2 learners’ accuracy. The results show that aural syllabic segmentation is acquired at early stages of proficiency, while visual syllabic segmentation is acquired at higher levels of proficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production)
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43 pages, 11069 KiB  
Article
Maintenance of Lexical Pitch Accent in Heritage Lithuanian: A Study of Perception and Production
by Jessica Kantarovich
Languages 2024, 9(9), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9090296 - 3 Sep 2024
Viewed by 675
Abstract
This study investigates how the unique circumstances of heritage language acquisition impact prosody, an understudied aspect of heritage speech. I examine the perception and production of lexical pitch accent by two generations of heritage Lithuanian speakers in Chicago (n = 13), with [...] Read more.
This study investigates how the unique circumstances of heritage language acquisition impact prosody, an understudied aspect of heritage speech. I examine the perception and production of lexical pitch accent by two generations of heritage Lithuanian speakers in Chicago (n = 13), with a qualitative comparison to one normative native speaker also living in Chicago. The speakers participated in the following: (1) a perception task requiring them to identify meaning distinctions between pairs of words that differ only by accent; and (2) a production task in which they produced sentences containing nine nominal declensions, where pitch accent plays a morphological role. In task (1), speakers across the board were not able to identify meaning distinctions in accent-based minimal pairs, irrespective of their frequency, and were more accurate at perceiving pairs that differed on the basis of segmental phonological features. However, HSs with more education perceived more accent-based distinctions, as did HSs who were more engaged in the Chicago community. Older HSs maintained more distinctions than either the NS or the younger HSs, which suggests a change in progress in the language or the Chicago Lithuanian community. In task (2), none of the speakers consistently used pitch to signal word-level prominence. Instead, all speakers relied on changes in duration and vowel quality to signal word-level prominence, suggesting that, for these speakers, there has been a shift to a stress-accent system. The older HSs also patterned more like the NS in their retention of the expected stress in the nominal declensions. Dialect was also determined to play a role in the retention of standard accent patterns in both perception and production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production)
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15 pages, 545 KiB  
Article
Home Language Experience Shapes Which Skills Are Used during Unfamiliar Speech Processing
by Susannah V. Levi
Languages 2024, 9(5), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9050159 - 26 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1011
Abstract
Speech mixed with noise and speech that is of an unfamiliar variety both make the task of understanding more difficult. Children are often more negatively affected by these situations than adults. Numerous studies have examined the cognitive and linguistic skills that support spoken [...] Read more.
Speech mixed with noise and speech that is of an unfamiliar variety both make the task of understanding more difficult. Children are often more negatively affected by these situations than adults. Numerous studies have examined the cognitive and linguistic skills that support spoken language processing. In the current study, we examine the contribution of linguistic exposure and various cognitive and linguistic skills for spoken word recognition of an unfamiliar variety of speech (German-accented English). The Ease of Language Understanding model predicts that working memory skills are needed in the most difficult listening situations. Two groups of school-age children were drawn from a larger sample: those with exposure to multiple languages in the home and those exposed to only English in the home. As predicted, working memory skills predicted performance for children with less varied linguistic experience (those only exposed to English in the home), but not for children with varied linguistic exposure. In contrast, linguistic skills predicted performance for children with more varied linguistic experience, even though the two groups did not differ overall in any of the assessed skills. These findings support the Ease of Language Understanding model of language processing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production)
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17 pages, 4292 KiB  
Article
The Interplay of Syllable Structure and Consonant Sonority in L2 Speech Segmentation
by Juan José Garrido-Pozú
Languages 2024, 9(3), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030103 - 18 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1368
Abstract
The present study investigated whether L1 and L2 Spanish speakers show sensitivity to matching/mismatching syllable structure and consonant sonority in lexical segmentation in Spanish. A total of 81 English–Spanish learners and 72 Spanish–English learners completed a fragment-monitoring task. They listened to lists of [...] Read more.
The present study investigated whether L1 and L2 Spanish speakers show sensitivity to matching/mismatching syllable structure and consonant sonority in lexical segmentation in Spanish. A total of 81 English–Spanish learners and 72 Spanish–English learners completed a fragment-monitoring task. They listened to lists of Spanish words as they saw a CV or CVC syllable (e.g., “pa” or “pal”) and pressed a button when the word began with the syllable shown on the screen. The task manipulated syllable structure (CV or CVC) and consonant sonority (fricative, nasal, or liquid) of target syllables and carrier words. Target syllables either matched or did not match the structure of the first syllable in target carrier words (e.g., “pa—pa.lo.ma”; “pa—pal.me.ra”). The results showed that consonant sonority modulated sensitivity to syllable structure in both groups of participants. Spanish–English learners responded faster to matching syllable structure in words that had a fricative or a nasal as the second consonant, and English–Spanish learners responded faster only with a fricative consonant. Higher L2 Spanish proficiency correlated with faster target-syllable identification, but sensitivity to matching/mismatching structure did not vary as a function of proficiency. The study highlights the influence of phonetic factors in the development of L2 lexical segmentation routines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Language Experience on Speech Perception and Speech Production)
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