Evidence for language transfer leading to a perceptual advantage for non-native listeners

Main author: Chang, C. B.
Other authors: Mishler, A.
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-18996
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic P Philology. Linguistics
PE English
PI Oriental languages and literatures
description Phonological transfer from the native language is a common problem for non-native speakers that has repeatedly been shown to result in perceptual deficits vis-a-vis native speakers. It was hypothesized, however, that transfer could help, rather than hurt, if it resulted in a beneficial bias. Due to differences in pronunciation norms between Korean and English, Koreans in the U.S. were predicted to be better than Americans at perceiving unreleased stops--not only in their native language (Korean) but also in their non-native language (English). In three experiments, Koreans were found to be significantly more accurate than Americans at identifying unreleased stops in Korean, at identifying unreleased stops in English, and at discriminating between the presence and absence of an unreleased stop in English. Taken together, these results suggest that cross-linguistic transfer is capable of boosting speech perception by non-natives beyond native levels.
format Journal Article
author Chang, C. B.
author_facet Chang, C. B.
Mishler, A.
authorStr Chang, C. B.
author_letter Chang, C. B.
author2 Mishler, A.
author2Str Mishler, A.
title Evidence for language transfer leading to a perceptual advantage for non-native listeners
publisher Acoustical Society of America
publishDate 2012
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18996/