LINGUIST List 13.599

Tue Mar 5 2002

Books: Phonology/Psycholinguistics

Editor for this issue: Dina Kapetangianni <dinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. GLSA, Phonology/Psycholinguistics: Jose Benki's dissertation

(Dissertation, Phonology/Psycholinguistics)

Jose Benki (University of Massachusetts). Evidence for Phonological
Categories from Speech Perception (1998). Velobound Book, $16. To
order, visit our web page:
http://server102.hypermart.net/glsa/index.htm.

ABSTRACT:

The nature of the categories that are basic in linguistic
representation is an important issue in speech perception. How
listeners extract messages from physical signals may depend on what
the fundamental units of those messages are. In this dissertation, I
present two experiments, designed to test how listeners use certain
acoustic cues to classify English stop consonants with regard to two
phonological dimensions, place of articulation and
voicing. Statistical models of listener classification suggest that
the categorization observed here is best described using the
phonological category of distinctive feature. Features are argued to
play a role in classification and are fundamental to speech
perception.

In experiment 1, 12 different VOT continua, using four types of
F1transitions combined with the higher formant transitions appropriate
for bilabials, alveolars and velars, were used to evaluate the effects
of F1transition and place of articulation on voice classification. A
logistic regression analysis suggests that F1 transition and place of
articulation both affect [voice] classification, largely
independently. Bilabials were more likely than velars to be judged
[-voice], independent of F1 transition and VOT. At the same time,
increasing F1 transition onset frequency and shortening the transition
duration led to more [-voice] judgements, independent of place of
articlulation and VOT.

A two-dimensional stimulus continuum in which both VOT and F2 onset
transition were varied in Experiment 2 in order to evaluate the
interaction between [place] and [voice] classification. Loglinear
techniques are used to measure the effects of perception of [place]
and [voice] on each other as well as the effects of VOT and F2 onset
on the perception of both phonological categories. Statistical models
of the data suggest that the perception of [place] and [voice] affect
each other, independent of the primary acoustic cues that give rise to
the perception of [place] and [voice].


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Graduate Linguistics Association (GLSA)
Department of Linguistics, South College
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003 USA
Phone & Voice Mail: 413-545-6838
Fax: 413-545-2792
e-mail: glsalinguist.umass.edu
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