Production constraints on learning novel onset phonotactics

• Published in: Cognition Vol. 107; no. 3; pp. 785 - 816
• Main Author: Redford, Melissa A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.06.2008; Elsevier; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Acoustics; Articulation (Speech); Auditory Stimuli; Biological and medical sciences; Coarticulation; Cognitive psychology; Distinctive Features (Language); English; English language; Experiments; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Language; Learning; Male; Markedness; Phonemes; Phonetic constraints; Phonetics; Phonological Awareness; Phonotactics; Production and perception of spoken language; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Speech Production Measurement; Statistical learning; Statistical models; Stimuli; Syllabification; Verbal Learning; Phonotactics; Phonetic constraints; Coarticulation; Statistical learning; Syllabification; Markedness; Human; Speech articulation; Acquisition process; Phonetics; Cognition; Experimental study
• ISSN: 0010-0277; 1873-7838
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.11.014

Three experiments addressed the hypothesis that production factors constrain phonotactic learning in adult English speakers, and that this constraint gives rise to a markedness effect on learning. In Experiment 1, an acoustic measure was used to assess consonant–consonant coarticulation in naturally produced nonwords, which were then used as stimuli in a phonotactic learning experiment. Results indicated that sonority-rising sequences were more coarticulated than -plateauing sequences, and that listeners learned novel-rising onsets more readily than novel-plateauing onsets. Experiments 2 and 3 addressed the specific questions of whether (1) the acoustic correlates of coarticulation or (2) the coarticulatory patterns of self-productions constrained learning. In Experiment 2, stimuli acoustics were altered to control for coarticulatory differences between sequence type, but a clear markedness effect was still observed. In Experiment 3, listeners’ self-productions were gathered and used to predict their treatment of novel-rising and -plateauing sequences. Results were that listeners’ coarticulatory patterns predicted their treatment of novel sequences. Overall, the findings suggest that the powerful effects of statistical learning are moderated by the perception–production loop in language.