LINGUIST List 23.4044
Mon Oct 01 2012
Diss: Phonetics/ Phonology/ Psycholing: Key: 'Phonological and Phonetic Biases in Speech Perception'
Editor for this issue: Lili Xia
<lxialinguistlist.org>
Date: 01-Oct-2012
From: Michael Key <key
labphonologist.org>
Subject: Phonological and Phonetic Biases in Speech Perception
E-mail this message to a friend
Institution: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2012
Author: Michael Key
Dissertation Title: Phonological and Phonetic Biases in Speech Perception
Dissertation URL:
http://key.labphonologist.org/dissertation
Linguistic Field(s):
Phonetics
Phonology
Psycholinguistics
Dissertation Director:
John Kingston
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation investigates how knowledge of phonologicalgeneralizations influences speech perception, with a particular focuson evidence that phonological processing is autonomous from (ratherthan interactive with) auditory processing. A model is proposed inwhich auditory cue constraints and markedness constraints interact todetermine a surface representation, which is taken to be isomorphic tothe listener's perceptual response under some psychophysicalconditions. Constraint ranking is argued to be stochastic in this modelon the basis that the probability of computing the least marked surfacerepresentation (and perceptual response) is greater when the inputauditory representation is ambiguous between two alternativecategories than when it strongly favors a category that completes amore marked surface representation (and perceptual response).Experimental evidence is presented to demonstrate that (1) nativelisteners of languages with assimilation processes confuseunassimilated and assimilated sequences when discrimination iscategory-based (but not when discrimination is based on auditoryrepresentations), (2) German listeners use phonological context toanticipate the presence of a following allophone iff it is the allophonewith broader distribution, and (3) that non-rhotic English listenersperceptually epenthesize and delete /r/ and they also may perceptuallyundo /r/ deletion. (1) suggests that knowledge of a phonologicalgeneralization may be applied only after auditory processing, which is aresult consistent with the predictions of 'autonomous theory' andinconsistent with the predictions of 'interactive theory'. (2) and (3) showthat phonological effects in speech perception go beyond biasesagainst illicit sequences and lead to the novel proposals that positiveconstraints (2) and opposite faithfulness constraints (3) exist in theperceptual grammar.
Page Updated: 01-Oct-2012