Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:58:46.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Categorical perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Kristine S. MacKain ,
Catherine T. Best  and
Winifred Strange
Kristine S. MacKain*
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories and Cornell University Medical College
Catherine T. Best
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories and Teachers College, Columbia University
Winifred Strange
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Dr. Kristine S. MacKain, Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, 525 East 68th Street, New York, New York 10021.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Categorical perception of a synthetic /r/-/l/ continuum was investigated with Japanese bilinguals at two levels of English language experience. The inexperienced Japanese group, referred to as Not-experienced, had had little or no previous training in English conversation. The Experienced Japanese group had had intensive training in English conversation by native American-English speakers. The tasks used were absolute identification, AXB discrimination, and oddity discrimination. Results showed classic Categorical perception by an American-English control group. The Not-experienced Japanese showed near-chance performance on all tasks, with performance no better for stimuli that straddled the /r/-/l/ boundary than for stimuli that fell in either category. The Experienced Japanese group, however, perceived /r/ and /l/ categorically. Their identification performance did not differ from the American-English controls, but their overall performance levels on the discrimination tests were somewhat lower than for the Americans. We conclude that native Japanese adults learning English as a second language are capable of Categorical perception of /r/ and /l/. Implications for perceptual training of phonemic contrasts are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 1981 , pp. 369 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramson, A. S., & Lisker, L. Discriminability along the voicing continuum: Cross language tests. Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague: Academia, 1970.Google Scholar
Abramson, A., & Lisker, L.Voice timing perception in Spanish word-initial stops. Journal of Phonetics, 1973, 1, 1–8.Google Scholar
Best, C. T., Morrongiello, B., & Robson, R.Perceptual equivalence of acoustic Cues in speech and nonspeech perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 1981, 29, 191–211.Google Scholar
Dalston, R. M.Acoustic characteristics of English /w, r, l/ spoken correctly by young children and adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1975, 57, 462–469.Google Scholar
Dittmann, S., & Strange, W. Effects of discrimination training on the perception of /r/ and /l/ by a native Japanese speaker. Paper presented at the 7th annual Minnesota Regional Conference on Language and Linguistics, May 8–9, 1981.Google Scholar
Gillette, S.Contextual variation in the perception of L and R by Japanese and Korean speakers. Minnesota Papers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language, 1980, 6, 59–72.Google Scholar
Glass, G. V., & Stanley, J. C.Statistical methods in education and psychology. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970.Google Scholar
Liberman, A. M., Cooper, F. S., Shankweiler, D. P., & Studdert-Kennedy, M.Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review, 1967, 74, 431–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S.A cross-linguistic study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 1964, 20, 384–422.Google Scholar
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S.Some effects of context on voice onset time in English stops. Language and Speech, 1967, 10, 1–28.Google Scholar
Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S. The voicing dimension: Some experiments in comparativephonetics. Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague: Academia, 1970.Google Scholar
Menyuk, P., & Menn, L. Early strategies for the perception and production of words and sounds. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (Eds.), Language acquisition. Cambridge University Press, 1979, 49–70.Google Scholar
Miyawaki, K. A study of lingual articulation by use of dynamic palatography. Unpublished masters thesis, University of Tokyo, 1973.Google Scholar
Miyawaki, K., Strange, W., Verbrugge, R., Liberman, A. M., Jenkins, J. J., & Fujimura, O.An effect of linguistic experience: The discrimination of [r] and [l] by native speakers of Japanese and English. Perception & Psychophysics, 1975, 18, 331–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mochizuki, M.The identification of /r/ and /l/ in natural and synthesized speech. Journal of Phonetics, 1981, 9, 283–303.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J. D., Gerstman, L. J., Liberman, A. M., Delattre, P. C., & Cooper, F. S.Acoustic cues for the perception of initial /w, r, l/ in English. Word, 1957, 13, 25–43.Google Scholar
Price, P. J. A cross-linguistic comparison of flaps in Japanese and in American English. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1981.Google Scholar
Stevens, K. N., Liberman, A. M., Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Öhman, S. E. G.Cross language study of vowel perception. Language and Speech. 1969, 12, 1–23.Google Scholar
Terbeek, D. A cross-language multi-dimensional scaling study of vowel perception. Working Papers in Phonetics (University of California at Los Angeles), 1977, 37.Google Scholar
Williams, L.The voicing contrast in Spanish. Journal of Phonetics, 1977, 5, 169–184.Google Scholar