Development of perceptual similarity and discriminability: the perception of Russian phonemes by Chinese learners

This study explored the perceptual assimilation and discrimination of Russian phonemes by three groups of Chinese listeners with differing Russian learning experience. A perceptual assimilation task (PAT) and a perceptual discrimination test (PDT) were conducted to investigate if/how L1-L2 perceptua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Phonetica Vol. 80; no. 1-2; p. 117
Main Authors:	Yang, Yuxiao, Chen, Sunfu, Chen, Fei, Ma, Junzhou
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Germany 23-02-2023
Subjects:	East Asian People Humans Language Multilingualism Phonetics Russia Speech Acoustics Speech Perception Russia L2 experience Russian phonetics acoustic-articulatory phonology perceptual assimilation perceptual discrimination
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Summary:	This study explored the perceptual assimilation and discrimination of Russian phonemes by three groups of Chinese listeners with differing Russian learning experience. A perceptual assimilation task (PAT) and a perceptual discrimination test (PDT) were conducted to investigate if/how L1-L2 perceptual similarity would vary as a function of increased learning experience, and the development of assimilation-discrimination relations. The PAT was analyzed via assimilation rates, dispersion values, goodness ratings and assimilation patterns. Results revealed an intriguing phenomenon that the perceived Mandarin-Russian similarity first increased from naïve listeners to intermediate learners and then decreased slightly in relatively advanced learners. This suggests that L1-L2 perceptual similarity is subject to learning experience and could follow a potential "rise and fall" developmental pattern. The PDT results were mostly in line with the assimilation-discrimination correspondence with more experience bringing out better discriminability in general. Yet the overall sensitivity values from the Chinese groups were relatively low, implying acoustic/articulatory effects on L2 discriminability aside from perceptual assimilation. The results were discussed under the frameworks of L2 Perceptual Assimilation Model, Speech Learning Model and L2 Linguistic Perception Model.
ISSN:	1423-0321
DOI:	10.1515/phon-2022-0023