1887
Volume 4, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2215-1354
  • E-ISSN: 2215-1362
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Believed dialect influences speech perception by linguistically naïve speakers. How much accent-induced bias affects perception of linguistically trained speakers is still unclear. This study experimentally investigates the influence of believed dialect on plosive perception by subjects who were phonetically and phonologically trained. Identical syllables were presented twice to each subject. In one session, the subjects were informed that the variety was a Mandarin dialect which has voiceless unaspirated and aspirated voiceless stops; and in the other session that it was a Wu dialect, which has voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and breathy stops. More breathy stops were reported if Wu was the believed dialect. Plosive phonation in Wu is related to lexical tone, and we show that lexical tone causes another bias to plosive perception. This suggests that linguistically trained transcribers are susceptible to higher order linguistic knowledge and it demonstrates the difficulty of avoiding biased perception when the coder forms a belief about the variety that he/she transcribes. We also advocate speech perception models which include a component that accounts for the role of sounds.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/aplv.17006.slo
2019-02-06
2024-10-04
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bever, Thomas G., & Chiarello, Robert J.
    (1974) Cerebral dominance in musicians and nonmusicians. Science, 185, 537–539. 10.1126/science.185.4150.537
    https://doi.org/10.1126/science.185.4150.537 [Google Scholar]
  2. Boersma, Paul, & Weenink, David
    (2010) Praat: Doing phonetics by computer. [Computer program, version 5.3].
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Cao, Jianfen, & Maddieson, Ian
    (1989) An exploration of phonation types in Wu dialects of Chinese. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 72, 139–160.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Chambers, J. K., & Trudgill, Peter
    (1998) Dialectology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511805103
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805103 [Google Scholar]
  5. Chao, Yuen Ren
    (1967) Contrastive aspects of the Wu dialects. Language, 41(1), 92–101. 10.2307/411386
    https://doi.org/10.2307/411386 [Google Scholar]
  6. (1930) A system of tone-letters. Le Maître Phonétique, 45, 24–27.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Chen, Li-mei, Chao, Kuan-Yi, & Peng, Jui-Feng
    (2007) VOT productions of word-initial stops in Mandarin and English: A cross-language study. Paper presented at theProceedings of the 19th Conference on Computational Linguistics and Speech Processing, 303–317.
  8. Chen, Matthew Y.
    (2000) Tone sandhi: Patterns across Chinese dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511486364
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486364 [Google Scholar]
  9. Chen, Zhongmin
    (2010) 吴语清音浊流的声学特征及鉴定标志——以上海话为例. [An Acoustic Study of Voiceless Onset Followed by Breathiness of Wu Dialects: Based on the Shanghai Dialect], Studies in Language and Linguistics, 30(3), 20–34.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Christy, Andrea L., & Munson, Benjamin
    (2012) The influence of imputed race on speech perception: Effects of experience and implicit attitudes. University of Minnesota. (Poster presented at LabPhon27-29July 2012, Stuttgart).
  11. Clopper, Cynthia G., & Pisoni, David B.
    (2004) Some acoustic cues for the perceptual categorization of American English regional dialects. Journal of Phonetics, 32(1), 111–140. 10.1016/S0095‑4470(03)00009‑3
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(03)00009-3 [Google Scholar]
  12. Drager, Katie
    (2005) From bad to bed: The relationship between perceived age and vowel perception in New Zealand English. Te Reo, 48, 55–68.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. (2010) Sociophonetic variation in speech perception. Language and Linguistics Compass, 4(7), 473–480. 10.1111/j.1749‑818X.2010.00210.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00210.x [Google Scholar]
  14. (2011) Speaker age and vowel perception. Language and Speech, 54(1), 99–121. 10.1177/0023830910388017
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830910388017 [Google Scholar]
  15. Duanmu, San
    (2000) Phonology of Chinese (Mandarin) (Second edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Foulkes, Paul, & Docherty, Gerard
    (2006) The social life of phonetics and phonology. Journal of Phonetics, 34(4), 409–438. 10.1016/j.wocn.2005.08.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2005.08.002 [Google Scholar]
  17. Foulkes, Paul, Scobbie, James M., & Watt, Dominic
    (2010) Sociophonetics. InWilliam J. Hardcastle, John Laver, & Fiona E. Gibbon (Eds.), The handbook of phonetic sciences (Second edition) (pp.703–754). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781444317251.ch19
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444317251.ch19 [Google Scholar]
  18. Friston, Karl
    (2010) The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory?Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138. 10.1038/nrn2787
    https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gao, Jiayin, & Hallé, Pierre
    (2012) Caractérisation acoustique des obstruantes phonologiquement voisées du dialecte de Shanghai [Acoustic properties of phonologically voiced obstruents in Shanghai dialect], Actes De JEP-TALN-RECITAL, 1, 145–152.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. (2013) Duration as a secondary cue for perception of voicing and tone in Shanghai Chinese. Paper presented at theINTERSPEECH, 3157–3161.
  21. Hall-Lew, Lauren, & Fix, Sonya
    (2012) Perceptual coding reliability of (L)-vocalization in casual speech data. Lingua, 122(7), 794–809. 10.1016/j.lingua.2011.12.005
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2011.12.005 [Google Scholar]
  22. Hay, Jennifer, Nolan, Aaron, & Drager, Katie
    (2006) From fush to feesh: Exemplar priming in speech perception. The Linguistic Review, 23(3), 351–379. 10.1515/TLR.2006.014
    https://doi.org/10.1515/TLR.2006.014 [Google Scholar]
  23. Hay, Jennifer, Warren, Paul, & Drager, Katie
    (2006) Factors influencing speech perception in the context of a merger-in-progress. Journal of Phonetics, 34(4), 458–484. 10.1016/j.wocn.2005.10.001
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2005.10.001 [Google Scholar]
  24. Hay, Jennifer and Drager, Katie
    (2010) Stuffed toys and speech perception. Linguistics, 48(4), 865–892. 10.1515/ling.2010.027
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2010.027 [Google Scholar]
  25. Henton, Caroline, Ladefoged, Peter, & Maddieson, Ian
    (1992) Stops in the world’s languages. Phonetica, 49(2), 65–101. 10.1159/000261905
    https://doi.org/10.1159/000261905 [Google Scholar]
  26. Holmes, Janet, & Meyerhoff, Miriam
    (2008) The handbook of language and gender. Malden/Oxford/Berlin: John Wiley and Sons.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Johnson, Keith, Strand, Elizabeth A., & D’Imperio, Mariapaola
    (1999) Auditory – visual integration of talker gender in vowel perception. Journal of Phonetics, 27(4), 359–384. 10.1006/jpho.1999.0100
    https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.1999.0100 [Google Scholar]
  28. Labov, William
    (2001) Principles of linguistic change: Social factors (Volume 2). Malden; Oxford: Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. (2006) The social stratification of English in New York city. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511618208
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618208 [Google Scholar]
  30. Li, Charles N., & Thompson, Sandra A.
    (1989) Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. London: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Lindblom, Björn, & Maddieson, Ian
    (1988) Phonetic universals in consonant systems. InLarry M. Hyman & Charles N. Li (Eds.), Language, speech and mind (pp.62–78). London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Lisker, Leigh, & Abramson, Arthur S.
    (1970) The voicing dimension: Some experiments in comparative phonetics. Paper presented at theProceedings of the sixth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 563–567.
  33. Maddieson, Ian, & Disner, Sandra Ferrari
    (1984) Patterns of sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511753459
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511753459 [Google Scholar]
  34. Milroy, Lesley, & Gordon, Matthew
    (2008) Sociolinguistics: Method and interpretation. Malden; Oxford; Melbourne; Berlin: John Wiley and Sons.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Milroy, Lesley, & Milroy, James
    (1992) Social network and social class: Toward an integrated sociolinguistic model. InJames Milroy & Lesley Milroy (Eds.), Language in society (pp.1–26). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Munson, Benjamin, & Babel, Molly
    (2007) Loose lips and silver tongues, or, projecting sexual orientation through speech. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1(5), 416–449. 10.1111/j.1749‑818X.2007.00028.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00028.x [Google Scholar]
  37. Niedzielski, Nancy
    (1999) The effect of social information on the perception of sociolinguistic variables. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 18(1), 62–85. 10.1177/0261927X99018001005
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X99018001005 [Google Scholar]
  38. Pietraszewski, David, & Schwartz, Alex
    (2014) Evidence that accent is a dimension of social categorization, not a byproduct of perceptual salience, familiarity, or ease-of-processing. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(1), 43–50. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.09.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.09.006 [Google Scholar]
  39. Preston, Dennis R.
    (1993) Folk dialect maps. InArthur Wayne Glowka & Donald M. Lance (Eds.), Language variation in North American English: Research and Teaching (pp.333–377). New York: Modern Language Association of America.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Purnell, Thomas, Idsardi, William, & Baugh, John
    (1999) Perceptual and phonetic experiments on American English dialect identification. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 18(1), 10–30. 10.1177/0261927X99018001002
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X99018001002 [Google Scholar]
  41. R Development Core Team
    R Development Core Team (2009) R: A language and environment for statistical computing [computer software]. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available fromwww.r-project.org
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Rakić, Tamara, Steffens, Melanie C., & Mummendey, Amélie
    (2011) Blinded by the accent! The minor role of looks in ethnic categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(1), 409–438. 10.1037/a0021522
    https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021522 [Google Scholar]
  43. Rose, Phil
    (2002) Tonal complexity as conditioning Factor – More depressing Wenzhou dialect disyllabic lexical tone sandhi. Proceedings of the 9th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology (pp.64–69). Australian Speech Science and Technology Association.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Rubin, Donald L.
    (1992) Nonlanguage factors affecting undergraduates’ judgments of nonnative English-speaking teaching assistants. Research in Higher Education, 33(4), 511–531. 10.1007/BF00973770
    https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00973770 [Google Scholar]
  45. Simpson, Adrian P.
    (2009) Phonetic differences between male and female speech. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(2), 621–640. 10.1111/j.1749‑818X.2009.00125.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00125.x [Google Scholar]
  46. Sloos, Marjoleine
    (2013) Halo! Don’t always trust the native speaker. Proceedings of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) 2012 (pp.325–350).
    [Google Scholar]
  47. (2015) Misperception as a result of accent-induced coder bias. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 13(1), 59–80. 10.1075/rcl.13.1.03slo
    https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.13.1.03slo [Google Scholar]
  48. Sloos, Marjoleine, Andersson, Alexandra, Garcia, Andrea Ariza, & Neijmeijer, Mathea
    (2018) Accent-induced bias in linguistic transcriptions. Language Sciences. Available from doi:  10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.002 [Google Scholar]
  49. Sloos, Marjoleine, Ran, Yunyun, & van de Weijer, Jeroen
    (2015) Huangyan Taizhou. Manuscript submitted for publication.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Sohoglu, Ediz, Peelle, Jonathan E., Carlyon, Robert P., & Davis, Matthew H.
    (2012) Predictive top-down integration of prior knowledge during speech perception. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32(25), 8443–8453. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5069‑11.2012
    https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5069-11.2012 [Google Scholar]
  51. Strand, Elizabeth A.
    (1999) Uncovering the role of gender stereotypes in speech perception. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 18(1), 86–100. 10.1177/0261927X99018001006
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X99018001006 [Google Scholar]
  52. Tannen, Deborah
    (1996) Gender and discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Traunmüller, Hartmut, & Eriksson, Anders
    (1995) The frequency range of the voice fundamental in the speech of male and female adults. [Unpublished manuscript]. RetrievedDecember 18, 2014, fromwww2.ling.su.se/
  54. Tseng, Chiu-yu
    (2011) Phonotactic and discourse aspects of content design in AESOP (Asian English speech corpus project). Proceedings of the2011 International Conference on Speech Database and Assessments (Oriental COCOSDA) (pp.24–29). IEEE Catalogue Number: CFP1208H-PRT 978-1-4673-2811-1. 10.1109/ICSDA.2011.6085974
    https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSDA.2011.6085974 [Google Scholar]
  55. Williams, Angie, Garrett, Peter, & Coupland, Nikolas
    (1999) Dialect recognition. InDavid R. Preston (Ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (pp.345–358). Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. 10.1075/z.hpd1.29wil
    https://doi.org/10.1075/z.hpd1.29wil [Google Scholar]
  56. Wodak, Rutuh
    (1997) Gender and discourse. London: Sage.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Wurm, Stephen A., Li, Rong, & Baumann, Theo
    (1988) 中国社会科学院 [Language atlas of China: Parts I and II]. Hong Kong: Longman Group (Far East) Limited.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Zee, Eric, & Maddieson, Ian
    (1979) Tones and tone sandhi in Shanghai: Phonetic evidence and phonological analysis. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 45, 93–129.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Zhang, Jisheng
    (2006) The phonology of Shaoxing Chinese. Doctoral thesis, Leiden University.
/content/journals/10.1075/aplv.17006.slo
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/aplv.17006.slo
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error