International Research Fellowship Program: Acoustic Perceptual Properties of Suprasegmental Contrast Systems

亚历山大国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9到24个月的研究。该项目的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持詹妮弗·亚历山大博士与加拿大西蒙·弗雷泽大学的王悦博士合作的为期24个月的研究奖学金。这项研究的总体目标是增加我们对语音认知处理的理解。词汇声调系统使用音高来表示词义；它们存在于70%的语言中，但与音节(辅音/元音)系统相比，研究不足。PI和主持人扩展了一个已被充分研究的第二语言语音结构感知模型(感知同化模型，cf.Best和Tyler，2007)，它传统上专注于语段，到词汇音调。在此过程中，他们的目标是确定母语声调体验对新奇声调知觉的影响。他们的第一个目标是评估声调语言的经验是否以及如何影响非母语声调在声学知觉空间中的组织。在实验1和实验2中，听者使用自由分类范式(Clopper，2008)对母语和非母语词汇声调进行分类。多维尺度和聚类分析被用来映射和比较母语和非母语的声调知觉空间。第二，他们利用非母语声调知觉空间来考察知觉接近如何影响非母语声调类别的识别；实验3测试听者？识别感知接近程度不同的非母语音调的能力。人们期望听者能更快、更准确地辨认出他们母语清单中存在的对比类别的声调。最后，他们调查了知觉接近如何影响对非母语声调的辨别。使用行为和脑电方法，实验4和实验5验证了我们的预测，即听众更快、更准确地辨别？并且对两者之间的差异更加敏感？被判定为高度不同的声调，相对于被判定为高度相似的声调。只有彻底调查语言的所有方面，才能完全理解语言系统的组织以及这些系统是如何相互作用的。这项研究是第一批将跨语言语音处理理论扩展到声调的研究之一。值得注意的是，这项研究涉及来自不同母语的听者，以全面了解非母语语调的感知。此外，这是第一个比较水平和轮廓音调处理的研究之一，也是第一个使用脑电来研究音调L1对听觉系统检测音调差异的速度的影响。对声调系统的完整理解将有助于我们扩展、检验和修改世界上的理论--S一般的语言语音系统。他们的数据将通过科学会议报告和出版物广泛传播；刺激将通过基于网络的演讲档案传播。因此，这项研究将对未来的声调系统研究起到启发和推动作用。反过来，从这些学术追求中获得的知识应该有利于各种实际追求。它应该提供用各种声调语言进行教学、学习和交流的方法，这可能会导致与那些主要语言(S)是声调语言的人建立更紧密的联系。例如，随着全球市场变得更加强大，竞争国际业务的公司可能会增加对能够轻松与说话人交流的国内员工的需求。最后，这项研究将涉及代表人数相对较少的受试者(讲伊博语和约鲁巴语的尼日利亚人)。

0965227AlexanderThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Jennifer Alexander to work with Dr. Yue Wang at Simon Fraser University in Canada.The overarching goal of this study is to increase our understanding of cognitive processing of speech sounds. Lexical-tone systems use pitch to signal word meaning; they exist in 70% of languages but are under-studied compared to segment (consonant/vowel) systems. The PI and host extend a well-studied model of second-language sound-structure perception (the Perceptual Assimilation Model, cf. Best and Tyler, 2007), which has traditionally focused on segments, to lexical tones. In doing so, they aim to determine the effect of native-language tone experience on perception of novel tone. Their first aim to evaluate whether and how experience with a tone language affects the organization of non-native tones in acoustic-perceptual space. In experiments 1 and 2, listeners use a free classification paradigm (Clopper, 2008) to classify native- and non-native lexical tones. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses are used to map and compare native- and non-native tone perceptual spaces. Second, they utilize the non-native tone perceptual spaces to examine how perceptual proximity affects identification of non-native tone categories; experiment 3 tests listeners? abilities to identify non-native tones that differ in perceptual proximity. Listeners are expected to more quickly and accurately identify tones belonging to contrastive categories present in their native inventories. Finally, they investigate how perceptual proximity affects discrimination of non-native tones. Using behavioral and EEG methods, experiments 4 and 5 test our prediction that listeners more quickly and accurately discriminate ? and are more sensitive to differences between ? tones judged to be highly dissimilar, relative to tones judged to be highly similar.Complete understanding of the organization of linguistic systems, and of how these systems interact, is possible only through thorough investigation of all aspects of language. This study is among the first to extend cross-language speech processing theories to tones. Notably, this study involves listeners from a variety of L1s, toward a thorough view of non-native tone perception. In addition, it is one of the first studies to compare level vs. contour tone processing, and is the first to use EEG to investigate the effect of tonal L1 on the rapidity with which the auditory system detects acoustic differences between tones. A complete understanding of tone systems would aid our ability to expand, test, and modify theories of the world?s linguistic sound systems in general. Their data will be widely disseminated via scientific conference presentations and publications; the stimuli will be disseminated via a web-based speech archive. Thus, this study will inform and motivate future studies on tone systems. In turn, the knowledge gained from these academic pursuits should benefit various practical pursuits. It should inform approaches for teaching, learning, and communicating in a variety of tone languages, which might then lead to stronger ties with those whose primary language(s) are tonal. For instance, as the global marketplace grows stronger, corporations competing for international business may increase their demand for domestic employees who can easily communicate with tone speakers. Finally, this study will involve comparatively underrepresented subject populations (speakers of Igbo and Yoruba, from Nigeria).