Doctoral Dissertation Research: Incomplete Neutralization: The Loss and Maintenance of Contrast

博士论文研究：不完全中和：对比度的损失与维持

• 批准号: 1918306
• 负责人: Elizabeth Zsiga
• 金额: $ 1.56万
• 依托单位: Georgetown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-15 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1918306&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Incomplete; Neutralization

Languages are not always pronounced the way they are written. Over time, the pronunciation of a language changes, but its orthography remains fixed. This poses problems for standardized spelling, language teaching and learning, and even speech recognition technologies, which need to process and convert spoken language into orthographic representations and vice versa. This dissertation addresses the problem of pronunciation change over time, looking specifically at cases where a distinction between two sounds that was previously present and represented orthographically begins to be lost. Changes like this happen gradually, where differences in the acoustics ("acoustic cues") slowly disappear, sometimes without speakers even realizing it. For example, "t" and "d" are different sounds in Dutch, but over time, the difference between "t" and "d" was lost at the ends of words; "bot" (bone) and "bod" (offer) are both pronounced like the English word "bought". This type of sound change, called "neutralization", is not always complete; small but measurable acoustic differences may remain between the two sounds, despite sounding identical to the naked ear. Studies have shown that listeners are able to perceive these differences subconsciously, as they can tell two seemingly-identical words apart (e.g. Dutch "bot" and "bod") at a rate better than chance, even without additional context. It is unknown what causes this incompleteness, how this process unfolds over time, and what social characteristics affect it. Additionally, it is unclear how speakers can tell these sounds apart, and what the necessary acoustics are for distinguishing between them. This dissertation will examine two cases of apparently incomplete neutralization in Dutch and Afrikaans. Both languages are losing the distinction between "t" and "d" and between "p" and "b", both word-initially and word-finally, though they are at different stages of the neutralization process. In four experiments, participants will read words and stories that have these consonants, and then listen to the sounds with manipulated acoustics and see if they can tell them apart. As we discover what differences listeners can hear, we are able to understand more about our cognitive capabilities and how social characteristics can affect our speech and hearing. This knowledge can be used to inform speech recognition technologies to better understand variability in speech production. Additionally, we will have a better understanding of language pronunciation change over time, which can help us develop curricula for teaching foreign languages, especially focusing on the link between reading and pronunciation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

语言并不总是按照书写的方式发音。随着时间的推移，一种语言的发音会发生变化，但它的正字法保持不变。这给标准化的拼写、语言教学和学习，甚至语音识别技术带来了问题，这些技术需要将口语处理和转换为正字法表示，反之亦然。本文讨论的问题，随着时间的推移，发音变化，特别是在案件中，两个声音之间的区别，以前存在，并表示正字法开始丢失。这样的变化是逐渐发生的，声学上的差异（“声学线索”）会慢慢消失，有时说话者甚至没有意识到这一点。例如，“t”和“d”在荷兰语中是不同的声音，但随着时间的推移，“t”和“d”之间的区别在单词的结尾消失了;“bot”（骨头）和“bod”（提供）都像英语单词“bought”一样发音。这种类型的声音变化，称为“中和”，并不总是完全的;尽管听起来与裸耳相同，但两种声音之间可能存在微小但可测量的声学差异。研究表明，听众能够下意识地感知这些差异，因为他们可以以比机会更好的速度区分两个完全相同的单词（例如荷兰语的“bot”和“bod”），即使没有额外的上下文。目前还不清楚是什么导致了这种不完整性，这个过程如何随着时间的推移而展开，以及什么社会特征会影响它。此外，人们还不清楚说话者如何区分这些声音，以及区分它们所需的声学条件。本文将探讨两个案件显然不完全中立荷兰语和南非荷兰语。两种语言都在失去“t”和“d”以及“p”和“B”之间的区别，无论是单词开头还是单词结尾，尽管它们处于中性化过程的不同阶段。在四个实验中，参与者将阅读含有这些辅音的单词和故事，然后用操纵的声学来听声音，看看他们是否能区分它们。当我们发现听众可以听到什么差异时，我们能够更多地了解我们的认知能力以及社会特征如何影响我们的言语和听力。这些知识可以用于通知语音识别技术，以更好地理解语音产生的变化。此外，我们将更好地了解语言发音随时间的变化，这可以帮助我们开发外语教学课程，特别是关注阅读和发音之间的联系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。