slides l4 phon acquisition.ppt - university of...
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Homework 1
• Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
• Arguments for mental grammar ≠ Arguments for innate knowledgeArguments for innate knowledge
• Creativity / expressivity
• Hypothesis testing
Review of phonology
• Phonemes vs. allophones• Phonemic analyses (two steps)Phonemic analyses (two steps)• Contrastive (distinctive) vs.
complementary distributioncomplementary distribution
Examine the distribution of [x] and [ç]. [x] = voiceless velar fricative[ ] i l l l f i i[ç] = voiceless palatal fricative
Apply the two steps of phonemic analyses. If pp y p p ythe two sounds are in complementary distribution, then
a) list the environments (neighboring sounds)b) state a generalization (x occurs in y, a
i b)occurs in b)c) state a rule.
Ling 240Ling 240
Acquisition of phonemic categoriesg
phonetic and phonemic categories
Categorization of speechCategorization of speech sounds
• difference between physical level p yand mental level
• how are mental categories used in speech perception?p p p
• how are mental categories acquired?
Physically (phonetically)t d¬
dph
thd
pb
t¬
Mentally (phonologically):C t i i E li hCategories in English
t d¬d
ph
thd
pb
t¬
English Sindhi
/p/ /p/ /ph/p
[p] [ph] [p] [ph]
Categories are not determined by the physical properties of theby the physical properties of the speech sounds
Physically: a continuum
Voicing continuum
ph p bph …………. p …………. b
th ………….. t …………. d
Mentally: discrete categoriesMentally: discrete categories
Physically: a continuum
Voicing continuum
ph p bph …………. p …………. b
th ………….. t …………. d
Mentally: discrete categoriesMentally: discrete categories
Gradient vs. Categorical
tall - short vs. pass - failhappy - sad vs dead - alivehappy sad vs. dead alive
Gradability
tall or short?• gradability: in betweengradability: in between• comparison: X is taller than Y
d d i l X• dependence on a comparison class: X can be tall in one context but short in
thanother
Discreteness
dead or alive
• X is either dead or not no in between• X is either dead or not -- no in between
• X cannot be more dead than Y
• X cannot be dead in one context but not in anotherin another
Going back to speech sounds
Voicing continuum
ph p bph …………. p …………. b
th ………….. t …………. d
Voice onset time
• VOT = the interval between the release of a closure and the start of the voicingg
Voice Onset Time (VOT)
60 msec
English VOT production
Discrimination
D 0ms 20msD D
20ms 40msD T
40ms 60msT T
Perceiving VOT
‘Categorical Perception’
Categorical PerceptionCategorical Perception
Humans perceive phonemes categoricallyHumans perceive phonemes categorically
DA1 DA2 TA1 TA2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in milliseconds
Categorical perception
• The mind imposes discrete, abstract categories which do not exist in the gphysical world
• Gradations in the phonetic categoriesGradations in the phonetic categories are ignored
Any questions so far?
• Mental vs. physical• Categorical vs gradientCategorical vs. gradient• VOT
C t i l ti• Categorical perception
But wait a second…
• What about children?• They need to learn these abstract y
phonological constructs, but they are only exposed to the actual physical instances of sounds – they don’t have direct access to phonemes (which are in adult’s lexicon)adult’s lexicon)
• So, how can they learn phonemes of their native language?their native language?
Do they have phonemicDo they have phonemic categories?
Wh t biliti hild b ith?• What abilities are children born with?• What abilities are specific to humans?• What abilities are specific to the
linguistic system?g y
Is phoneme discrimination innate or
l d?learned?
Is phoneme discriminationIs phoneme discrimination innate?
• Hypothesis A: Innate ability to discriminate all possible phoneme distinctions (in any language)
• Hypothesis B: children learn to discriminate the contrasts in their language
• Hypothesis C: Something in between… some contrasts are innate, others learnedlearned
Do newborns perceiveDo newborns perceive phonemes categorically?p g y
Eimas et al 1971Eimas et al., 1971
Can newborns perceive categorically?
BA PA1 PA2BA PA1 PA2
0 20 40 60 800 20 40 60 80VOT in milliseconds
How do newborn babiesHow do newborn babies perceive speech sounds?
• Speech perception is innate: infants perceive categorically (Hyp. Ai)p g y ( yp )
• Untuned sensitivity: infants perceive diff b t t t i ll (Hdifferences but not categorically (Hyp. Aii)
• Infants are insensitive to differences between speech sounds (Hyp B)between speech sounds (Hyp. B)
But how can you test what infants perceive?perceive?
High AmplitudeHigh Amplitude Sucking Procedure
• Pacifier contains sensor to monitor sucking rates
• Each time infantEach time infant sucks pacifier, a stimulus is playedstimulus is played
StimulusStimulus
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Hi h A lit dHigh Amplitude Sucking Procedureg
• Initially sucking rate increases (novelty)
• Then decreases• Decline in response
= habituationhabituation
LSCP Infant Lab
High AmplitudeHigh Amplitude Sucking Procedure
When sucking rate declines to a setdeclines to a set point (habituation criterion)criterion),auditory stimulus is changed
LSCP Infant LabLSCP Infant Lab
TestTest
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
High Amplitude S kiSucking
ProcedureIf sucking rate
increases, ,then we know the
infant has detectedinfant has detected the change
• The renewed• The renewed response = is dishabituationdishabituation
LSCP Infant Lab
Predictions: Hypothesis A(i)Predictions: Hypothesis A(i) ? ?
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Predictions: Hypothesis A(i)Predictions: Hypothesis A(i) iRemain
habituateddishabituate
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Predictions: Hypothesis A(ii)Predictions: Hypothesis A(ii) ? ?
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Predictions: Hypothesis A(ii)Predictions: Hypothesis A(ii) di h bi di h bidishabituate dishabituate
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Predictions: Hypothesis BPredictions: Hypothesis B ? ?
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Predictions: Hypothesis BPredictions: Hypothesis B i iRemain
habituatedRemain
habituated
BA PA1 PA21 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
Results
phonemic acoustic
High Amplitude kiSucking
Eimas et al. 1971
Results = Hypothesis A(i)Results = Hypothesis A(i) iRemain
habituateddishabituate
BA1 BA2 PA1 PA21 2 1 2
0 20 40 60 80VOT in millisecondsVOT in milliseconds
ConclusionsConclusions
Newborns perceive speech sounds categorically
Categorical perception of h d i i tspeech sounds is innate
Newborns are universal listeners
Newborns are sensitive to every phonological distinction yet testedphonological distinction yet tested
Is categorical perception of speech sounds unique tospeech sounds unique to
humans?Or do other animals do this too?
Do other animals perceiveDo other animals perceive phonemes categorically?
K hl & Mill 1978 t t hi hillKuhl & Miller 1978: test chinchillas and humans with identical stimuli
ChinchillasChinchillas
Avoidance Conditioning Procedure
Sh k i d ith h d tShock paired with speech sound at one end of continuum (A)
0 80PAVOT in milliseconds
Avoidance Conditioning Procedure
Sound at other end (B) paired with safety
0 80VOT in milliseconds
BA
Avoidance Conditioning Procedure
Animal learns to run to other side of cageAnimal learns to run to other side of cage when it hears sound A but stay after B
What will they do for sounds in between?
Sta R n? ? ? ?Stay Run? ? ? ?
PABA
Predictions
100Categorical Perception
708090
ed [b
]
Categorical PerceptionGraded Perception
405060
nt la
belle
10203040
Perc
en
010
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Voice Onset Time (ms)
Results
Kuhl & Miller, 1978
100
8090
100
[b]
English Speakers
50
6070
labe
lled
2030
40
Perc
ent l
010
20P
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Voice Onset Time (ms)
Kuhl & Miller, 1978
100
8090
100
[b]
English SpeakersChinchillas
50
6070
labe
lled
2030
40
Perc
ent l
010
20P
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Voice Onset Time (ms)
ConclusionsConclusions
Categorical perception of speech sounds is not species-specificspecific (even chinchillas can do it!)
Becoming a Native Listener
What develops in speech perception?perception?
Universal Phonetic Spacep
EnglishJapanese EnglishJapanese
French
Universal phonetic inventoryp y
Languages differ in their g gphonetic inventories
In English /r/ and /l/ are separateIn English /r/ and /l/ are separate phonemes
Ex: rate vs. lateN t i JNot so in Japanese
Languages differ in their g gphonetic inventories
I E li h th diff b tIn English the difference between (alveolar) /d/ and retroflex /D/ is ( )not phonemic
In Hindi it isIn Hindi it is
Cross-Language Differences
English vs HindiEnglish vs. Hindi
alveolar [d]?
retroflex [D] ?
Newborns are universal listeners
English infants can distinguish Hi di /d/ d /D/Hindi /d/ and /D/Japanese infants can distinguishJapanese infants can distinguish between /l/ and /r/
Newborns are universal listeners
Infants perceive speech t i llcategorically
Newborns are sensitive to almostNewborns are sensitive to almost every phonological distinction yet t t dtested
Newborns are universalNewborns are universal listeners
In contrast, adults have difficulty , ydiscriminating speech sounds that are not contrastive in their nativeare not contrastive in their native language
Studies by Werker et alStudies by Werker et al
• Goals?
• Methodology?
Testing Across the LifespanTesting Across the Lifespan
• HAS works only with infants from birth to 4 monthsbirth to 4 months
• Adults & children can be asked to detect a change
• The Conditioned Head Turn• The Conditioned Head Turn Paradigm can be used for 6-12
th ld i f tmonth-old infants
Experimenter p(headphones)
Infant
Parent(headphones)
Experimenterp
Visual ReinforcerVisual Reinforcer (VR)
Toy that lights up y g pand moves at the experimenter’s commandcommand
C t l fControls for sound stimuli and the VR
Conditioned Head Turn Paradigm
Kuhl Lab, U Washington, 1992
C di i i H d TConditioning Head Turn
• Infant Trained with 2 clearly different auditory stimuli (bell anddifferent auditory stimuli (bell and whistle)
h ti th d h th–each time the sound changes the toy is activated
–next, toy is activated only if the sound changes AND the babysound changes AND the baby turns to look at it
Conditioned Head TurnConditioned Head Turn
• Child hears Stimulus 1 (/ba/)• Child hears Stimulus 1 (/ba/) repeatedly
• Then Stimulus 2 is presented (/da/)• If child detects difference they• If child detects difference, they
should turn to look at the toy when the stimulus changesthe stimulus changes
• If they do not detect it, they y yshouldn’t turn
Conditioned Head Turn Paradigm
Kuhl Lab, U Washington, 1992
Conditioned Head Turn Paradigm
Kuhl Lab, U Washington, 1992
Werker 1995Werker 1995
Subjects: Hindi adultsEnglish AdultsEnglish AdultsEnglish 6-8 month-olds
Testing /ba/ vs. /da/g/Ta/ vs. /ta//th / /dh //tha/ vs. /dha/
Werker 1995Werker 1995
/ba/ vs. /da/ Hindi and Englishg
/T / /t / O l Hi di/Ta/ vs. /ta/ Only Hindi
/tha/ vs. /dha/ Only Hindi
Results
Werker, 1995
Conclusions English-speaking infants could
d t t diff i tidetect differences in non-native contrasts
English-speaking adults were very b d t itbad at it
When does decline in performance take place?performance take place?
Werker 1995Werker 1995
Testing the same group of infants at different points in timeinfants at different points in time
• 6-8 months• 8-10 months
10 12 months• 10-12 months
ResultsResults
Werker, 1995
Werker studies: Conclusion
Ability to perceive non-Ability to perceive nonnative contrasts
declines in 1st yearWerker and Tees 1984
What is responsible for theWhat is responsible for the change?
How do babies become adults?How do babies become adults?
First proposal:First proposal: Maintenance/loss Hypothesis
• role of experience is to maintain pperceptual sensitivitiesl k f l d t l f• lack of exposure leads to loss of perceptual abilityp p y
Maintenance/loss in vision
• In visual cortex, cells specifically designed to respond to certain g pkinds of input (vertical lines, horizontal lines))
• Cells atrophy if deprived of relevant input during critical periodinput during critical period
Hubel and Wiesel 1965
Maintenance/loss forMaintenance/loss for perception of speech sounds
• Does a lack of exposure to certain contrasts lead to permanent loss of sensitivity topermanent loss of sensitivity to these contrasts?
• (atrophy of specialized neurons)
Problems for theProblems for the Maintenance/loss Hypothesis
• Prediction: decline in sensitivity• Prediction: decline in sensitivity following lack of exposure h ld b dshould be permanent and
absolute
Problems for theProblems for the Maintenance/loss Hypothesis
Predictions are not borne out: (1)( )• Adults CAN perceive non-native
contrastscontrasts -- but only in non-speech tasksy
(bucket study, Zulu clicks)
Problems for theProblems for the Maintenance/loss Hypothesis
Predictions are not borne out: (2)( )• Children older than 12 months
can mo e to a ne co ntr andcan move to a new country and acquire native phonology gy(without accent)
Alternative Hypothesis:Alternative Hypothesis: Functional Reorganization
• no absolute hardware changes in dit tauditory system
• development of a linguistic system p g ythat imports a subset of the contrasts from the auditory systemcontrasts from the auditory system
Conclusions
• As babies (become ready to) acquire a linguistic systemacquire a linguistic system (words) in their first year, they “learn” which distinctions need to be represented in thatto be represented in that system
Conclusions
• Other distinctions do not get used in the linguistic systemused in the linguistic system (though they are still available in non-linguistic domains)
Conclusions
So, what changes during the first year?what changes during the first year?
answer:answer: the baby starts to acquire a linguistic system i e the phonemic inventorysystem, i.e., the phonemic inventory of their target language
Conclusions
thus, universal discrimination of speechuniversal discrimination of speech sounds is not specific to linguistic
tsystem
Categorical perception ofCategorical perception of phonemic contrasts
• Innate? Yes
• Unique to humans? No
• General cognition or specific to linguistic system? Bothg y Both
Other issues
• critical period
If you want to learn more about these issues, read this book!
Jusczyk 1997. MIT Press
For tomorrow
• Review for exam• HW2 due!HW2 due!• Come to class with questions
A d th ’ll h (1 h )• And then we’ll have an exam (1 hour)