Phonological variation and spoken word recognition

描述(由申请者提供)：这个项目的总体目标是确定听者如何识别由于合法的语音过程包括英语冠名同化而修改了表面形式的单词。这个项目将继续开发、测试和完善一个全面的理论框架来理解这个问题，强调精细语音细节的重要性和一般听觉分组机制在加工中的作用。这项工作围绕三个目标展开：1)确定一般听觉分组机制在同化语音加工中的作用以及它们在什么表征水平上起作用；(2)确定已被证明影响词汇加工的语音精细结构如何反映在同化语音的分类中；以及(3)确定不同类型的内隐语言知识在语境中听到的同化项目的加工中所起的作用。 这些问题将通过离线知觉任务(音素识别、AXB辨别和类别好坏评定任务)、在线行为任务(音素监测和形式启动)以及结合脑磁图(MEG)、脑电图仪(ERP)和功能和结构磁共振的技术的使用来检查。这些实验中的刺激将包括合成语音、未经修改和数字修改的自然语音以及观察仔细测量或控制的声学参数的合成语音模拟。 这项工作将对语言能力、听觉场景分析机制和口语识别之间的关系提供深入的见解。作为基础研究，它为理解这些过程提供了一个框架，这些过程可能有助于表征和开发有效的沟通障碍补救措施，以及开发可能服务于各种知觉和沟通障碍的自动语音合成和识别技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to determine how listeners recognize words whose surface forms have been modified as a result of lawful phonological processes including English coronal place assimilation. This project will continue the development, testing and refinement of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding this problem that emphasizes the importance of fine phonetic detail and the role of general auditory grouping mechanisms in processing. The work is organized around three aims: 1) to determine what role general auditory grouping mechanisms play in the processing of assimilated speech and what level of representation they operate on, (2) to determine how phonetic fine structure that has been shown to influence lexical processing is reflected in the categorization of assimilated speech, and (3) to determine what role different types of implicit linguistic knowledge play in the processing of assimilated items heard in context. These issues will be examined through a combination of off-line perceptual tasks (phoneme identification, AXB discrimination and categorical goodness rating tasks), on-line behavioral tasks (phoneme monitoring and form priming), and the use of techniques combining magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (ERP), and functional and structural MRI. Stimuli in these experiments will consist of a combination of synthesized speech, unmodified and digitally modified natural speech, and synthesized speech analogs observing carefully measured or controlled acoustic parameters. This work will provide insight into the relationship between linguistic competence, auditory scene analysis mechanisms and spoken word recognition. As basic research it provides a framework for understanding these processes that may be useful in characterizing and developing effective remediation for communicative disorders, and in developing automatic speech synthesis and recognition technologies that may serve people with a variety of perceptual and communicative disorders.