This study investigated individual differences in Korean adult learners’ categorical perception of L2 English stops with an aim to explore the relationship of gradient categorizations to perceptual sensitivity to acoustic cues and L2 proficiency. Korean young adult L2 learners of English (N = 49) participated in two speech perception tasks (visual analog scaling and forced-choice identification) in which they listened to English voiced and voiceless stops and Korean lax and aspirated stops with Voice Onset Time (VOT) and F0 manipulated to form a continuum. It was found that in both L1 and L2 stop perception, listeners’ gradient category judgment was associated with greater reliance on language-specific redundant cues (i.e., F0 in L2 English and VOT in L1 Korean) and that in the perception of L2 stops, categorical listeners who tended to be less sensitive to F0 were the ones with a higher level of L2 English proficiency. The results suggest that the categorical manner of judging L2 stops reflects learners’ better knowledge of L2-specific acoustic cue-weightings, based on which less relevant acoustic information is effectively suppressed.
AbramsonA. S.LiskerL. (1985). Relative power of cues: F0 shift versus voice timing. In FromkinV. A. (Ed.), Phonetic linguistics: Essays in honor of Peter Ladefoged (pp. 25–33). Academic Press.
2.
AndruskiJ. E.BlumsteinS. E.BurtonM. (1994). The effect of subphonetic differences on lexical access. Cognition, 52(3), 163–187.
3.
BaayenR. H.DavidsonD. J.BatesD. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 390–412.
4.
BatesD.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48.
5.
BeddorP. S.McGowanK. B.BolandJ. E.CoetzeeA. W.BrasherA. (2013). The time course of perception of coarticulation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(4), 2350–2366.
6.
BlumsteinS. E.MyersE. B.RissmanJ. (2005). The perception of voice onset time: An fMRI investigation of phonetic category structure. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(9), 1353–1366.
BohnO. S. (1995). Cross-language speech perception in adults: First language transfer doesn’t tell it all. In StrangeW. (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 279–304). York Press.
9.
BohnO. S.FlegeJ. E. (1990). Interlingual identification and the role of foreign language experience in L2 vowel perception. Applied Psycholinguistics, 11(3), 303–328.
10.
BradlowA. R.AlexanderJ. A. (2007). Semantic and phonetic enhancements for speech-in-noise recognition by native and non-native listeners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121(4), 2339–2349.
11.
CarneyA. E.WidinG. P.ViemeisterN. F. (1977). Noncategorical perception of stop consonants differing in VOT. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 62(4), 961–970.
12.
CebrianJ. (2006). Experience and the use of non-native duration in L2 vowel categorization. Journal of Phonetics, 34(3), 372–387.
13.
ChoT.JunS.-A.LadefogedP. (2002). Acoustic and aerodynamic correlates of Korean stops and fricatives. Journal of Phonetics, 30, 198–228.
14.
ChoiT.-H.KimG.-H.HanJ.-I. (2013). Perception and production of English stops by tonal and non-tonal Korean dialect speakers. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134, EL541–EL546.
15.
Desmeules-TrudelF. (2018). Spoken word recognition in native and second language Canadian French: Phonetic detail and representation of vowel nasalization [Doctoral dissertation, Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa].
16.
DíazB.MittererH.BroersmaM.Sebastián-GallésN. (2012). Individual differences in late bilinguals’ L2 phonological processes: From acoustic-phonetic analysis to lexical access. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(6), 680–689.
17.
EscuderoP.BendersT.LipskiS. C. (2009). Native, non-native and L2 perceptual cue weighting for Dutch vowels: The case of Dutch, German, and Spanish listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 37(4), 452–465.
18.
EscuderoP.BoersmaP. (2004). Bridging the gap between L2 speech perception research and phonological theory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(4), 551–585.
19.
FlegeJ. E.BohnO. S.JangS. (1997). Effects of experience on non-native speakers’ production and perception of English vowels. Journal of Phonetics, 25(4), 437–470.
20.
FrancisA. L.KaganovichN.Driscoll-HuberC. (2008). Cue-specific effects of categorization training on the relative weighting of acoustic cues to consonant voicing in English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124, 1234–1251.
21.
FrancisA. L.NusbaumH. C. (2002). Selective attention and the acquisition of new phonetic categories. Journal Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 349–366.
22.
GassS. (1984). Development of speech perception and speech production abilities in adult second language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 5(1), 51–74.
23.
GerritsE.SchoutenM. E. H. (2004). Categorical perception depends on the discrimination task. Perception & Psychophysics, 66(3), 363–376.
24.
GodfreyJ. J.Syrdal-LaskyA. K.MillayK. K.KnoxC. M. (1981). Performance of dyslexic children on speech perception tests. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 32(3), 401–424.
25.
GordonP. C.EberhardtJ. L.RuecklJ. G. (1993). Attentional modulation of the phonetic significance of acoustic cues. Cognitive Psychology, 25, 1–42.
26.
GuionS. G.FlegeJ. E.Akahane-YamadaR.PruittJ. C. (2000). An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: The case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107(5), 2711–2724.
27.
GuionS. G.PedersonE. (2007). Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning. In BohnO.-S.MunroM. J. (Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning (pp. 57–77). John Benjamins.
28.
HattoriK.IversonP. (2009). English /r/-/l/ category assimilation by Japanese adults: Individual differences and the link to identification accuracy. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125(1), 469–479.
29.
HazanV.BarrettS. (2000). The development of phonemic categorization in children aged 6–12. Journal of Phonetics, 28(4), 377–396.
30.
HoonhorstI.MedinaV.ColinC.MarkessisE.RadeauM.DeltenreP.SerniclaesW. (2011). Categorical perception of voicing, colors and facial expressions: A developmental study. Speech Communication, 53(3), 417–430.
31.
IdemaruK.HoltL. L. (2011). Word recognition reflects dimension-based statistical learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37(6), 1939–1956.
32.
IdemaruK.HoltL. L. (2014). Specificity of dimension-based statistical learning in word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(3), 1009–1021.
33.
IversonP.KuhlP. K.Akahane-YamadaR.DieschE.KettermannA.SiebertC. (2003). A perceptual interference account of acquisition difficulties for non-native phonemes. Cognition, 87(1), B47–B57.
34.
JoanisseM. F.ManisF. R.KeatingP.SeidenbergM. S. (2000). Language deficits in dyslexic children: Speech perception, phonology, and morphology. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 77(1), 30–60.
35.
JohnsonK. (2006). Resonance in an exemplar-based lexicon: The emergence of social identity and phonology. Journal of Phonetics, 34(4), 485–499.
36.
KangK. (2010). Generational differences in the perception of Korean stops. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 2(3), 3–10.
37.
KangK.GuionS. (2006). Phonological systems in bilinguals: Age of learning effects on the stop consonant systems of Korean–English bilinguals. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 1672–1683.
38.
KangK.GuionS. (2008). Clear speech production of Korean stops: Changing phonetic targets and enhancement strategies. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124, 3909–3917.
39.
KangY. (2014). Voice onset time merger and development of tonal contrast in Seoul Korean stop: A corpus study. Journal of Phonetics, 45, 76–90.
40.
KapnoulaE. C.WinnM. B.KongE. J.EdwardsJ.McMurrayB. (2017). Evaluating the sources and functions of gradiency in phoneme categorization: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43(9), 1594–1611.
41.
KimS. (2015). ppcor: An R package for a fast calculation to semi-partial correlation coefficients. Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods, 22(6), 665–674.
42.
KondaurovaM. V.FrancisA. L. (2008). The relationship between native allophonic experience with vowel duration and perception of the English tense/lax vowel contrast by Spanish and Russian listeners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124(6), 3959–3971.
43.
KondaurovaM. V.FrancisA. L. (2010). The role of selective attention in the acquisition of English tense and lax vowels by native Spanish listeners: Comparison of three training methods. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 569–587.
44.
KongE.BeckmanM. E.EdwardsJ. (2011). Why are Korean tense stops acquired so early: The role of acoustic properties. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 196–211.
45.
KongE.EdwardsJ. (2011, August17–21). Individual differences in speech perception: Evidence from visual analogue scaling and eye-tracking [Proceedings]. ICPhS, Hong Kong.
46.
KongE.EdwardsJ. (2016). Individual differences in categorical perception of speech: Cue weighting and executive function. Journal of Phonetics, 59, 40–57.
47.
KongE.LeeH. (2018). Attentional modulation and individual differences in explaining the changing role of fundamental frequency in Korean laryngeal stop perception. Language and Speech, 61(3), 384–408.
48.
KongE.YoonI. (2013). L2 proficiency effect on the acoustic cue-weighting pattern by Korean L2 learners of English: Production and perception of English stops. Journal of the Korean Society of Speech Sciences, 5, 81–90.
49.
LecumberriM. L. G.CookeM.CutlerA. (2010). Non-native speech perception in adverse conditions: A review. Speech Communication, 52(11–12), 864–886.
50.
LeeI.RamseyS. R. (2000). The Korean language. Suny Press.
51.
LibermanA. M.HarrisK. S.HoffmanH. S.GriffithB. C. (1957). The discrimination of speech sounds within and across phoneme boundaries. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54(5), 358–368.
52.
LiskerL. (1978). In qualified defense of VOT. Language and Speech, 21(4), 375–383.
53.
LiskerL.AbramsonA. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Words, 20, 384–442.
54.
LlanosF.DmitrievaO.ShultzA.FrancisA. L. (2013). Auditory enhancement and second language experience in Spanish and English weighting of secondary voicing cues. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134(3), 2213–2224.
55.
MassaroD. W.CohenM. M. (1983). Categorical or continuous speech perception: A new test. Speech Communication, 2(1), 15–35.
56.
MattysS. L.CarrollL. M.LiC. K.ChanS. L. (2010). Effects of energetic and informational masking on speech segmentation by native and non-native speakers. Speech Communication, 52(11–12), 887–899.
57.
MayoL. H.FlorentineM.BuusS. (1997). Age of second-language acquisition and perception of speech in noise. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40(3), 686–693.
58.
McMurrayB.ClayardsM. A.TanenhausM. K.AslinR. N. (2008). Tracking the time course of phonetic cue integration during spoken word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15(6), 1064–1071.
59.
McMurrayB.TanenhausM. K.AslinR. N. (2002). Gradient effects of within-category phonetic variation on lexical access. Cognition, 86(2), B33–B42.
60.
McMurrayB.TanenhausM. K.AslinR. N. (2009). Within-category VOT affects recovery from “lexical” garden-paths: Evidence against phoneme-level inhibition. Journal of Memory and Language, 60(1), 65–91.
61.
McMurrayB.TanenhausM. K.AslinR. N.SpiveyM. J. (2003). Probabilistic constraint satisfaction at the lexical/phonetic interface: Evidence for gradient effects of within-category VOT on lexical access. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 32(1), 77–97.
62.
MedinaV.HoonhorstI.BogliottiC.SerniclaesW. (2010). Development of voicing perception in French: Comparing adults, adolescents, and children. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 493–503.
63.
MillerJ. L. (1997). Internal structure of phonetic categories. Language and Cognitive Processes, 12(5–6), 865–870.
64.
MorrisonG. S. (2002). Effects of L1 duration experience on Japanese and Spanish listeners’ perception of English high front vowels. Simon Fraser University.
65.
MorrisonG. S. (2007). Logistic regression modelling for first and second language perception data. In SoléM. J.PrietoP.MascaróJ. (Eds.), Segmental and prosodic issues in Romance phonology (pp. 219–236). John Benjamins.
66.
MunsonB.SchellingerS. K.EdwardsJ. (2017). Bias in the perception of phonetic detail in children’s speech: A comparison of categorical and continuous rating scales. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 31(1), 56–79.
67.
O’BrienG. E.McCloyD. R.KubotaE. C.YeatmanJ. D. (2018). Reading ability and phoneme categorization. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 16842.
68.
ParkH.de JongK. J. (2008). Perceptual category mapping between English and Korean prevocalic obstruents: Evidence from mapping effects in second language identification skills. Journal of Phonetics, 36(4), 704–723.
69.
PierrehumbertJ. B. (2001). Exemplar dynamics: Word frequency, lenition and contrast. Typological Studies in Language, 45, 137–158.
70.
PisoniD. B.LivelyS. E.LoganJ. S. (1994). Perceptual learning of nonnative speech contrasts: Implications for theories of speech perception. In GoodmanJ. C.NusbaumH. C. (Eds.), The development of speech perception: The transition from speech sounds to spoken words (pp. 121–166). The MIT Press.
71.
PisoniD. B.TashJ. (1974). Reaction times to comparisons within and across phonetic categories. Perception & Psychophysics, 15(2), 285–290.
72.
ReppB. H. (1984). Categorical perception: Issues, methods, findings. Speech and Language, 10, 243–335.
73.
SchellingerS. K.MunsonB.EdwardsJ. (2017). Gradient perception of children’s productions of /s/ and /θ/: A comparative study of rating methods. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 31(1), 80–103.
74.
SchertzJ.ChoT.LottoA.WarnerN. (2015). Individual differences in phonetic cue use in production and perception of a non-native sound contrast. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 183–204.
75.
SchertzJ.ChoT.LottoA.WarnerN. (2016). Individual differences in perceptual adaptability of foreign sound categories. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78(1), 355–367.
76.
SchmidtA. M. (1996). Cross-language identification of consonants. Part 1. Korean perception of English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99, 3201–3211.
77.
SchoutenB.GerritsE.Van HessenA. (2003). The end of categorical perception as we know it. Speech Communication, 41(1), 71–80.
78.
SerniclaesW.Van HegheS.MoustyP.CarréR.Sprenger-CharollesL. (2004). Allophonic mode of speech perception in dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87(4), 336–361.
79.
ShultzA. A.FrancisA. L.LlanosF. (2012). Differential cue weighting in perception and production of consonant voicing. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132(2), EL95–EL101.
80.
SimonC.FourcinA. J. (1978). Cross-language study of speech-pattern learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 63(3), 925–935.
81.
ToscanoJ. C.McMurrayB.DennhardtJ.LuckS. J. (2010). Continuous perception and graded categorization: Electrophysiological evidence for a linear relationship between the acoustic signal and perceptual encoding of speech. Psychological Science, 21(10), 1532–1540.
82.
UtmanJ. A.BlumsteinS. E.BurtonM. W. (2000). Effects of subphonetic and syllable structure variation on word recognition. Perception & Psychophysics, 62(6), 1297–1311.
83.
WerkerJ. F.TeesR. C. (1987). Speech perception in severely disabled and average reading children. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 41(1), 48–61.
84.
WhalenD. H.AbramsonA. S.LiskerL.ModyM. (1993). F0 gives voicing information even with unambiguous voice onset times. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 93, 2152–2159.
