Perception of American Vowels by Russian, Spanish and Japanese Learners of English

俄语、西班牙语和日语英语学习者对美国元音的看法

• 批准号: 0718340
• 负责人: Winifred Strange
• 金额: $ 44.97万
• 依托单位: CUNY Graduate School University Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0718340&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Perception; American; Vowels; Russian; Spanish

This research investigates the difficulties that Spanish, Russian, and Japanese speaking adult learners of English have in hearing and pronouncing differences among vowel sounds. English includes 11-12 distinct vowels sounds, whereas the three languages listed above have only 5-6 vowel sounds. Thus, for instance, where Spanish, Russian and Japanese have one vowel (similar to the [a] sound as in "hot"), English has three different vowels (the sounds in "hat", "hot" and "hut") that are very similar to each other and to the single vowel sound in Spanish, Russian and Japanese. Other confusing vowels include those that distinguish word pairs such as "luck-look", "mate-met", "feet-fit" and "pit-pet". To the English learner, these word pairs may sound like the same word (i.e. homonyms). A failure to pronounce these vowel sounds correctly leads to 'foreign-accented' speech that may interfere with communication. What is less obvious is that failures to perceive the differences between vowels may interfere with English language learners' ability to understand English speakers' utterances. As adult learners of English gain experience in listening to and speaking the new language, some of these perception and production problems are ameliorated; however, even after years of immersion in an English speaking environment, some vowel sounds continue to be confused, especially in difficult listening conditions (in noisy rooms, when the language learner is otherwise occupied, or is fatigued).This research project examines the perceptual difficulties of Spanish, Russian and Japanese adult English learners using speech materials and listening conditions that more closely simulate 'real life' listening conditions. Both behavioral measures and brain measures of perceptual processing will be obtained on groups of listeners who vary across a wide range of English language experience. From the results, the underlying processing difficulties of these English learners and the effects of non-optimal listening conditions on their perception and production performance can be determined. These findings will contribute to basic theories of speech processing and will also lay an empirical foundation for improving English-language testing and instruction for immigrant populations. In an increasingly globalized economic and political world, understanding and ameliorating communication problems by speakers of different 'mother tongues' is of great importance. Spoken English proficiency is extremely important for the educational and economic advancement of immigrant populations in the USA.

本研究调查了西班牙语、俄语和日语的成年英语学习者在元音发音和听力方面的困难。英语包含11-12个不同的元音，而上面列出的三种语言只有5-6个元音。因此，例如，西班牙语、俄语和日语有一个元音（类似于“hot”中的[a]音），英语有三个不同的元音（“hat”、“hot”和“hut”中的音），它们彼此非常相似，并且与西班牙语、俄语和日语中的单个元音非常相似。其他易混淆的元音包括那些区分单词对的元音，如“luck-look”，“mate-met”，“feet-fit”和“pit-pet”。 对于英语学习者来说，这些词对可能听起来像同一个词（即同音异义词）。不能正确地发出这些元音会导致“外国口音”的讲话，这可能会干扰交流。不太明显的是，未能察觉元音之间的差异可能会干扰英语学习者理解英语说话者话语的能力。 随着成年英语学习者在听和说新语言方面获得经验，这些感知和表达问题中的一些得到改善;然而，即使在英语环境中浸淫多年，有些元音仍然会混淆，特别是在困难的听力条件下（在嘈杂的房间里，当语言学习者被其他事情占据或疲劳时）。本研究项目探讨了西班牙语的感知困难，俄罗斯和日本成人英语学习者使用更接近模拟“真实的生活”听力条件的语音材料和听力条件。 感知处理的行为测量和大脑测量将在不同的英语语言经验的听众群体中获得。 从实验结果中，我们可以确定这些英语学习者潜在的加工困难，以及非最佳听力条件对他们的感知和产出表现的影响。 这些发现将有助于语音处理的基本理论，也将为改善移民人口的英语测试和教学奠定实证基础。 在日益全球化的经济和政治世界中，理解和改善不同“母语”的人的沟通问题是非常重要的。英语口语水平对于美国移民人口的教育和经济发展极其重要。