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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Main Author:	Pilus, Zahariah
Format:	Conference or Workshop Item
Language:	English English
Published:	2004
Subjects:	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
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

id	iium-38461
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-384612015-01-09T01:51:12Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/ The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model Pilus, Zahariah P Philology. Linguistics PE English 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. 2004 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/9/Cover_MELTA.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/38461/11/The_Perceptual_Assimilation_Model1.pdf Pilus, Zahariah (2004) The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model. In: MELTA Conference - Focus on Oracy, 31 May - 1st June 2004, Subang Jaya, Selangor. (Unpublished) http://www.melta.org.my/Doc/The_Perceptual_Assimilation_Model1.pdf
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English
topic	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
spellingShingle	P Philology. Linguistics PE English Pilus, Zahariah The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
description	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.
format	Conference or Workshop Item
author	Pilus, Zahariah
author_facet	Pilus, Zahariah
author_sort	Pilus, Zahariah
title	The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_short	The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_full	The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_fullStr	The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_full_unstemmed	The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_sort	perception of voicing in english word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
publishDate	2004
url	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
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:55:16Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:55:16Z
_version_	1777410262076227584

The perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model

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