Monolingual listeners are constrained by native language experience when categorizing and discriminating unfamiliar non-native contrasts. Are early bilinguals constrained in the same way by their two languages, or do they possess an advantage? Greek–English bilinguals in either Greek or English language mode were compared to monolinguals on categorization and discrimination of Ma'di stop-voicing distinctions that are non-native to both languages. As predicted, English monolinguals categorized Ma'di prevoiced plosive and implosive stops and the coronal voiceless stop as English voiced stops. The Greek monolinguals categorized the Ma'di short-lag voiceless stops as Greek voiceless stops, and the prevoiced implosive stops and the coronal prevoiced stop as Greek voiced stops. Ma'di prenasalized stops were uncategorized. Greek monolinguals discriminated the non-native voiced-voiceless contrasts very well, whereas the English monolinguals did poorly. Bilinguals were given all oral and written instructions either in English or in Greek (language mode manipulation). Each language mode subgroup categorized Ma'di stop-voicing comparably to the corresponding monolingual group. However, the bilinguals’ discrimination was unaffected by language mode: both subgroups performed intermediate to the monolinguals for the prevoiced-voiceless contrast. Thus, bilinguals do not possess an advantage for unfamiliar non-native contrasts, but are nonetheless uniquely configured language users, differing from either monolingual group.
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April 2013
April 03 2013
Focusing the lens of language experience: Perception of Ma'di stops by Greek and English bilinguals and monolinguals
Mark Antoniou;
Mark Antoniou
a)
The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University
, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208
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Catherine T. Best;
Catherine T. Best
MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney
, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia
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Michael D. Tyler
Michael D. Tyler
School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney
, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia
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a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected]
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133, 2397–2411 (2013)
Article history
Received:
June 14 2012
Accepted:
January 29 2013
Citation
Mark Antoniou, Catherine T. Best, Michael D. Tyler; Focusing the lens of language experience: Perception of Ma'di stops by Greek and English bilinguals and monolinguals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 April 2013; 133 (4): 2397–2411. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4792358
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