Doctoral Dissertation Research: Features and Syllables in Phonotactic Models

博士论文研究：音位模型中的特征和音节

• 批准号: 1226793
• 负责人: Jeffrey Heinz
• 金额: $ 1.03万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226793&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Features; Syllables

The purpose of this research is to investigate how syllable structure and phonotactic sequencing constraints affect speech perception in Nepali. Word initial and word final consonant clusters are not allowed in Nepali. As a result, when borrowing words from other languages, Nepali speakers often break up clusters by inserting vowels. For example, they pronounce the English word 'slip' as 'silip'. Earlier research has found that Nepali speakers find it difficult to distinguish between consonant clusters at word boundaries and the same clusters broken up by vowels. In other words, 'slip' and 'silip' tend to be indistinguishable to Nepali speakers. This suggests that these language-specific phonotactic constraints cause Nepali listeners to perceive nonexistent vowels at word boundaries.This research investigates whether similar phenomenon can be observed word internally. A perceptual experiment will be conducted to test the hypothesis that monolingual Nepali speakers also find it difficult to distinguish between consonant clusters word internally and the same clusters broken up by vowels. If the results of the experiment support this hypothesis, then such perceptual confusion would indicate that consonant clusters at word-internal syllable boundaries, like the ones at word boundaries, affect the speech perception of Nepali speakers.Since Nepali is an understudied language, this research promises to shed new light on the role of syllable structure and phonotactic sequencing constraints on speech perception. Additionally, this research can inform phonotactic learning models by identifying a distinct role for syllable structure. Broader impacts of the proposed research include introducing underprivileged Nepali high school students to linguistic and psychological sciences.

本研究的目的是探讨音节结构和音位序列限制如何影响尼泊尔语的言语感知。在尼泊尔语中，不允许出现词首和词尾辅音群。因此，当从其他语言借用单词时，尼泊尔语使用者经常通过插入元音来打破集群。例如，他们将英语单词“slip”发音为“silip”。早期的研究发现，说尼泊尔语的人很难区分单词边界的辅音群和被元音打破的辅音群。换句话说，对讲尼泊尔语的人来说，“slip”和“silip”往往难以区分。这表明，这些语言特定的音位限制导致尼泊尔听众感知不存在的元音在单词boundaries.This research investigates类似的现象是否可以观察到字内部。一个知觉实验将进行测试的假设，单语尼泊尔扬声器也发现很难区分辅音集群词内部和相同的集群打破元音。如果实验结果支持这一假设，那么这种知觉混乱将表明，辅音集群在字内音节边界，像那些在字边界，影响语音感知的尼泊尔speakers.Since尼泊尔语是一种未充分研究的语言，本研究有望阐明新的音节结构和语音序列的限制对语音感知的作用。此外，这项研究可以通过识别音节结构的独特作用来告知语音定位学习模型。拟议研究的更广泛影响包括向贫困的尼泊尔高中学生介绍语言和心理科学。