The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008
Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use intonation to discriminate between two la... more Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use intonation to discriminate between two languages when one of the languages is familiar (Ramus and Mehler, 1999; Pijper, 1983). In this paper, we test adults to determine whether they use segmental or intonational cues to distinguish their native dialect from a foreign one. In three experiments, American English listeners were asked to categorize American and Australian English sentences when (a) segmental and supra-segmental cues are available, (b) sentences are re-synthesized with flat intonation, leaving only segmental cues, (c) segmental information is stripped away, leaving only intonation. Results will be discussed in the context of infant research demonstrating that five month olds are able to distinguish different dialects of the same language (Nazzi, Jusczyk, and Johnson 2000).
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009
Languages differ in rhythm as well as intonation. Research indicates that adult listeners are abl... more Languages differ in rhythm as well as intonation. Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use rhythm to discriminate between two languages from different rhythm classes [Ramus Mehler, (1999)]. For languages within the same rhythm class, adults are able to use to use intonation to discriminate between languages like English and Dutch, but only when one of the languages is familiar [Ramus and Mehler, (1999); Pijper, (1983)]. It remains unclear if the rhythmic differences between languages in the same rhythm class are enough to support language discrimination. In this paper, we tested American English listeners’ ability to categorize re-synthesized American English and German sentences or American and Australian English sentences from which all segmental information had been removed. English and German are from the same rhythm class and differ in intonation; whereas American and Australian English can be thought to be rhythmically identical, but differ in intonation. Subjec...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009
To acquire a language, infants must be able to accurately discriminate speech utterances belongin... more To acquire a language, infants must be able to accurately discriminate speech utterances belonging to that language. This is particularly important for infants raised in bilingual environments, who must be able to tag utterances they hear as belonging to one language or another. From birth, infants are able to discriminate languages from different rhythm classes, but not languages within the same rhythm class [Nazzi et al. (1998)]. By 5 months, infants can discriminate two languages from the same rhythm class, as long as one language is native. Johnson [(2000)] showed that English-learning infants could discriminate English from Dutch, and even American English from British English, but not Dutch from German. We attempt to extend these results to American English and German, and American and Australian English. Preliminary results show that English-learning 5-month-olds cannot discriminate American English from German but are able to discriminate American from Australian English. Th...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2000
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left motor cortex during presentation ... more Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left motor cortex during presentation of video and audio speech stimuli. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right orbicularis oris muscle which is activated during pronunciation of the consonant /ba/ but not the consonant /ta/. Subjects were instructed to pay attention to six types of stimuli video presentation of the consonant /ba/, audio presentation of /ba/, audio and video presentation of /ba/, video presentation of /ta/, audio presentation of /ba/ with time-locked video presentation of video /ta/, and the face of the speaker when he was silent. The MEPs were enhanced only when subjects were visually presented with the consonant /ba/. Auditory presentations of the same consonant failed to elicit similar enhancement. The results from visual observation of the consonant /ba/ support other studies of motor facilitation in limb control research in monkeys and humans. In these studies observation of a motor...
Previous work has suggested that learners are sensitive to phonetic similarity when learning phon... more Previous work has suggested that learners are sensitive to phonetic similarity when learning phonological patterns (e.g., Steriade, 2001/2008; White, 2014). We tested 12-month-old infants to see if their willingness to generalize newly learned phonological alternations depended on the phonetic similarity of the sounds involved. Infants were exposed to words in an artificial language whose distributions provided evidence for a phonological alternation between two relatively dissimilar sounds ([p∼v] or [t∼z]). Sounds at one place of articulation (labials or coronals) alternated whereas sounds at the other place of articulation were contrastive. At test, infants generalized the alternation learned during exposure to pairs of sounds that were more similar ([b∼v] or [d∼z]). Infants in a control group instead learned an alternation between similar sounds ([b∼v] or [d∼z]). When tested on dissimilar pairs of sounds ([p∼v] or [t∼z]), the control group did not generalize their learning to the...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008
Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use intonation to discriminate between two la... more Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use intonation to discriminate between two languages when one of the languages is familiar (Ramus and Mehler, 1999; Pijper, 1983). In this paper, we test adults to determine whether they use segmental or intonational cues to distinguish their native dialect from a foreign one. In three experiments, American English listeners were asked to categorize American and Australian English sentences when (a) segmental and supra-segmental cues are available, (b) sentences are re-synthesized with flat intonation, leaving only segmental cues, (c) segmental information is stripped away, leaving only intonation. Results will be discussed in the context of infant research demonstrating that five month olds are able to distinguish different dialects of the same language (Nazzi, Jusczyk, and Johnson 2000).
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009
Languages differ in rhythm as well as intonation. Research indicates that adult listeners are abl... more Languages differ in rhythm as well as intonation. Research indicates that adult listeners are able to use rhythm to discriminate between two languages from different rhythm classes [Ramus Mehler, (1999)]. For languages within the same rhythm class, adults are able to use to use intonation to discriminate between languages like English and Dutch, but only when one of the languages is familiar [Ramus and Mehler, (1999); Pijper, (1983)]. It remains unclear if the rhythmic differences between languages in the same rhythm class are enough to support language discrimination. In this paper, we tested American English listeners’ ability to categorize re-synthesized American English and German sentences or American and Australian English sentences from which all segmental information had been removed. English and German are from the same rhythm class and differ in intonation; whereas American and Australian English can be thought to be rhythmically identical, but differ in intonation. Subjec...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2009
To acquire a language, infants must be able to accurately discriminate speech utterances belongin... more To acquire a language, infants must be able to accurately discriminate speech utterances belonging to that language. This is particularly important for infants raised in bilingual environments, who must be able to tag utterances they hear as belonging to one language or another. From birth, infants are able to discriminate languages from different rhythm classes, but not languages within the same rhythm class [Nazzi et al. (1998)]. By 5 months, infants can discriminate two languages from the same rhythm class, as long as one language is native. Johnson [(2000)] showed that English-learning infants could discriminate English from Dutch, and even American English from British English, but not Dutch from German. We attempt to extend these results to American English and German, and American and Australian English. Preliminary results show that English-learning 5-month-olds cannot discriminate American English from German but are able to discriminate American from Australian English. Th...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2000
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left motor cortex during presentation ... more Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left motor cortex during presentation of video and audio speech stimuli. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right orbicularis oris muscle which is activated during pronunciation of the consonant /ba/ but not the consonant /ta/. Subjects were instructed to pay attention to six types of stimuli video presentation of the consonant /ba/, audio presentation of /ba/, audio and video presentation of /ba/, video presentation of /ta/, audio presentation of /ba/ with time-locked video presentation of video /ta/, and the face of the speaker when he was silent. The MEPs were enhanced only when subjects were visually presented with the consonant /ba/. Auditory presentations of the same consonant failed to elicit similar enhancement. The results from visual observation of the consonant /ba/ support other studies of motor facilitation in limb control research in monkeys and humans. In these studies observation of a motor...
Previous work has suggested that learners are sensitive to phonetic similarity when learning phon... more Previous work has suggested that learners are sensitive to phonetic similarity when learning phonological patterns (e.g., Steriade, 2001/2008; White, 2014). We tested 12-month-old infants to see if their willingness to generalize newly learned phonological alternations depended on the phonetic similarity of the sounds involved. Infants were exposed to words in an artificial language whose distributions provided evidence for a phonological alternation between two relatively dissimilar sounds ([p∼v] or [t∼z]). Sounds at one place of articulation (labials or coronals) alternated whereas sounds at the other place of articulation were contrastive. At test, infants generalized the alternation learned during exposure to pairs of sounds that were more similar ([b∼v] or [d∼z]). Infants in a control group instead learned an alternation between similar sounds ([b∼v] or [d∼z]). When tested on dissimilar pairs of sounds ([p∼v] or [t∼z]), the control group did not generalize their learning to the...
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Papers by Megha Sundara