Discriminability and Prototypicality of Nonnative Vowels

Autor/inn/en	Shinohara, Yasuaki; Han, Chao; Hestvik, Arild
Titel	Discriminability and Prototypicality of Nonnative Vowels
Quelle	In: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44 (2022) 5, S.1260-1278 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Shinohara, Yasuaki) ORCID (Hestvik, Arild)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0272-2631
DOI	10.1017/S0272263121000978
Schlagwörter	Japanese; Vowels; Auditory Discrimination; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Memory; Phonetics; Phonemes; Native Language; English (Second Language); Auditory Stimuli; Phonology; Audio Equipment; Comparative Analysis; Pronunciation + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Japaner; Japanisch; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Gedächtnis; Phonetik; Fonetik; Fonem; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Auditive Stimulation; Fonologie; Audio-CD; Aussprache
Abstract	This study examined how discriminability and prototypicality of nonnative phones modulate the amplitude of the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) event-related brain potential. We hypothesized that if a frequently occurring (standard) stimulus is not prototypical to a listener, a weaker predictive memory trace will be formed and a smaller MMN will be generated for a phonetic deviant, regardless of the discriminability between the standard and deviant stimuli. The MMN amplitudes of Japanese speakers hearing the English vowels /ae/ and /[alpha]/ as standard stimuli and /[open-mid back unrounded vowel]/ as a deviant stimulus in an oddball paradigm were measured. Although the English /ae/-/[open-mid back unrounded vowel]/ contrast was more discriminable than the English /[alpha]/-/[open-mid back unrounded vowel]/ contrast for Japanese speakers, when Japanese speakers heard the /ae/ standard stimulus (i.e., less prototypical as Japanese /a/) and the /[open-mid back unrounded vowel]/ deviant stimulus, their MMN amplitude was smaller than the one elicited when they heard /[alpha]/ as a standard stimulus (i.e., more prototypical as Japanese /a/) and /[open-mid back unrounded vowel]/ as a deviant stimulus. The prototypicality of the standard stimuli in listeners' phonological representations modulates the MMN amplitude more robustly than does the discriminability between standard and deviant stimuli. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01