The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
This paper presents the findings of a perception experiment that was conducted to examine the relative difficulty encountered by Malay speakers of English in contrasting voicing in word-final obstruents. The pairs of obstruents examined in the paper were /t/- /d/, /s/-/z/ and /f/-/v/. Results f...
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2004
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/9/Cover_MELTA.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/11/The_Perceptual_Assimilation_Model1.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper presents the findings of a perception experiment that was conducted to
examine the relative difficulty encountered by Malay speakers of English in contrasting
voicing in word-final obstruents. The pairs of obstruents examined in the paper were /t/-
/d/, /s/-/z/ and /f/-/v/. Results from the experiment are discussed in relation to the
Perceptual Assimilation Model developed by Best (1994, 1995). The theory essentially
claims that non-native listeners would classify foreign/ second language sounds into
different categories. The relative difficulty faced by foreign or second language learners
in discriminating a pair of sounds can then be predicted based on how the second
language sounds are categorized. The pairs of sounds under study can be categorized as a
Two Category contrast (/t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/) and a Category Goodness contrast (/s/-/z/).
Because /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/ are Two Category contrasts, it is predicted that /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/
would be well discriminated for voicing. As a Category Goodness contrast, /s/-/z/ is
predicted to be difficult to discriminate. In fact, it would be the most difficult pair to
distinguish for voicing among the pairs of obstruents investigated. This paper examines
whether or not the findings from the experiment fulfill the above predictions. The paper
then discusses some of the implications of the findings on the model. |
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