University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Perceptual learning in Hindi-English bilinguals

Schuhmann, Katharina S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/35300

Description

Title
Perceptual learning in Hindi-English bilinguals
Author(s)
Schuhmann, Katharina S.
Issue Date
2012-12-14
Keyword(s)
  • Phonology
  • Perceptual learning
  • Language acquisition
  • Hindi
  • English
  • Bilingualism
Abstract
This study investigates whether perceptual learning (e.g. Norris, McQueen & Cutler 2003; Eisner & McQueen 2005; Kraljic & Samuel 2006, 2007; Kraljic, Samuel & Brennan 2008) has cross- linguistic effects in Hindi-English bilinguals. We hypothesized that perceptual learning in bilingual listeners generalizes across languages to similar phonemes in an untrained language. In particular, this study tested whether perceptual learning generalizes from the English velar stop contrast to stop contrasts at various places of articulation in Hindi (velar, retroflex, and dental stops). Hindi-English bilinguals listened to English words containing ambiguously voiced velar stops. In a subsequent categorization task, the bilinguals showed marginal perceptual learning effects for English velar stops but no effects for any of the tested Hindi stop contrasts. The results suggest that perceptual learning effects in stops are specific to the language of training in bilinguals whose languages differ in their phoneme inventories and/or the phonetic realization of the relevant phoneme contrasts.
Publisher
Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ISSN
0049-2388
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/35300
Copyright and License Information
Copyright © 2012 Katharina S. Schuhmann

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Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers PRIMARY
The online working papers of the UIUC Department of Linguistics