Yang Jing, Fox Robert A
Lang Speech. 2014 Jun;57(Pt 2):215-37. doi: 10.1177/0023830913502774.
This study compares the underlying perceptual structure of vowel perception in monolingual Chinese, monolingual English and bilingual Chinese-English listeners. Of particular interest is how listeners' spatial organization of vowels is affected either by their L1 or their experience with L2. Thirteen English vowels, /i, I, e, epsilon, ae, u, omega, o, (see symbol), alpha, (see symbol)I, alphaI, alphaomega/, embedded in /hVd/ syllable produced by an Ohio male speaker were presented in pairs to three groups of listeners. Each listener rated 312 vowel pairs on a nine-point dissimilarity scale. The responses from each group were analyzed using a multidimensional scaling program (ALSCAL). Results demonstrated that all three groups of listeners used high/low and front/back distinctions as the two most important dimensions to perceive English vowels. However, the vowels were distributed in clusters in the perceptual space of Chinese monolinguals, while they were appropriately separated and located in that of bilinguals and English monolinguals. Besides the two common perceptual dimensions, each group of listeners utilized a different third dimension to perceive these English vowels. English monolinguals used high-front offset. Bilinguals used a dimension mainly correlated to the distinction of monophthong/diphthong. Chinese monolinguals separated two high vowels, /i/ and /u/, from the rest of vowels in the third dimension. The difference between English monolinguals and Chinese monolinguals evidenced the effect of listeners' native language on the vowel perception. The difference between Chinese monolinguals and bilingual listeners as well as the approximation of bilingual listeners' perceptual space to that of English monolinguals demonstrated the effect of L2 experience on listeners' perception of L2 vowels.
本研究比较了单语中文、单语英语以及中英双语听众在元音感知方面的潜在感知结构。特别令人感兴趣的是听众对元音的空间组织是如何受到其第一语言（L1）或第二语言（L2）体验影响的。由一位俄亥俄州男性说话者发出的、嵌入/hVd/音节中的13个英语元音，即/i, I, e, epsilon, ae, u, omega, o, （见符号）, alpha, （见符号）I, alphaI, alphaomega/，以成对形式呈现给三组听众。每位听众按照九点差异量表对312对元音进行评分。使用多维标度程序（ALSCAL）对每组听众的回答进行分析。结果表明，所有三组听众都将高低和前后区别作为感知英语元音的两个最重要维度。然而，在单语中文听众的感知空间中，元音呈簇状分布，而在双语听众和单语英语听众的感知空间中，元音则得到了适当的分离和定位。除了这两个常见的感知维度外，每组听众还利用不同的第三个维度来感知这些英语元音。单语英语听众使用高前偏移。双语听众使用的一个维度主要与单元音/双元音的区别相关。单语中文听众在第三个维度上将两个高元音/i/和/u/与其他元音区分开来。单语英语听众和单语中文听众之间的差异证明了听众母语对元音感知的影响。单语中文听众和双语听众之间的差异以及双语听众感知空间与单语英语听众感知空间的近似程度证明了第二语言体验对听众对第二语言元音感知的影响。
