Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In this dissertation, I describe three related experiments which explore the relationship between perceptual and articulatory learning during the process of second language phoneme acquisition.Novel phoneme acquisition is a well-documented challenge for adult learners which can persist even after extensive experience with the target language.The perceptual challenge typically manifests as an inability to distinguish between two or more target categories.Articulation performance often reveals a significant effect of the native language on pronunciation.While these problems have been extensively studied as independent phenomena, there is less work relating the joint development of articulatory and perceptual categories in second language acquisition.As a result, questions remain about the effects of cross-modal training -the extent to which learning in one domain can support development in the other.This dissertation contributes to that body of literature with experiments that compare the effects of perceptual and articulatory training on the perception and production of Hindi coronal stop consonants by native English speakers.It focuses on adult learners who have no prior exposure to Hindi to explore patterns of learning at the earliest stages, before stable second language targets have formed.Of particular interest is the transfer of articulatory learning to perceptual categorization, a trajectory which has been explored in only a small handful of studies.In experiment 1 (chapter 2), the joint contributions of perceptual and articulatory learning on category acquisition were assessed with a multi-day training experiment.Benefits were found for within-mode learning -perceptual training aided discrimination, and pronunciation was improved during articulatory training.However, cross-modal learning did not have an effect -pronunciation was not significantly improved by perceptual learning, and articulatory learning did not have an additional benefit on discrimination performance.Experiment 2 (chapter 3) sought an explanation for the lack of a cross-modal effect in experiment 1.New learners who received only a single session of training showed discrimination improvement whether they received articulatory or perceptual training.This finding suggests that learners in experiment 1 failed to show an improvement from cross-modal learn-Finishing a dissertation always requires support from a big community, and I am no exception to this rule.Still, it is humbling to come to the end of this project and reflect on just how many people had a role in making it possible.It's safe to say that I would not be writing this page without the guidance, kindness, and friendship of the community that made me feel at home in Berkeley for six years.First to be thanked are the members of my committee, who have utterly deprived me of the chance to commiserate with the downtrodden grad students of PhD Comics.Susanne Gahl has been my model for rigorous argumentation, thoughtful criticism, and clear organization in scientific writing.She also taught me how to love R, and shared an excellent and storied cookie recipe; both are gifts I treasure.Bob Knight gave me full access to his lab equipment and his students' expertise so that I could fast-track an EEG experiment in my last full semester, and was always available to sit down and help me make sense of my data.(He also shares my wonderful home state of New Jersey!) Keith Johnson, my advisor, has been a joy to work with.He recruited me to Berkeley and has let me have free reign of my direction ever since, encouraging me to take risks in my work while simultaneously providing gentle guidance back to structure when I needed it.For the numerous debugging sessions, career counseling talks, stories of legendary phoneticians, and unrelenting encouragement, I will always be grateful.Not every faculty member who had a profound influence on me is listed on the first page of this document.Terry Regier gave me one of my first research projects in grad school, taught me how to break an argument down and build it back up again, and trained me to reason and question -everything -as a scientist.Eddie Chang welcomed me into his lab and allowed me access to the rare and exciting ECoG research going on at UCSF.Both Terry and Eddie advised projects that spanned much of my grad school career, and while the results of those studies are not included here, those experiences nevertheless helped shape the quality and content of this work.Thanks are also due to the fantastic support staff in the linguistics department at Berkeley.Paula Floro kept track of an amazing number of things for our department, and still had time to help me manage the small details of my own administrative needs.I feel certain that I would have missed an embarrassing number of deadlines and forms without Belen Flores keeping an eye on me.And Ron Sprouse spent hours helping me debug code and optimize analyses, and was so kind about the two (two!) times that I brought down the department website by running huge models on the server.Even with excellent mentors, grad school can be stressful.So I'm grateful to have chosen a department with grad students and postdocs who acted as a critical support system when things got tough.My cohort, lab mates, and collaborators (in particular,
Author: Emily Cibelli
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1160590209