Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model

This paper presents the findings of a perception experiment that was conducted to examine the relative difficulty encountered by Malay speakers of English in contrasting voicing in word-final obstruents. The pairs of obstruents examined in the paper were /t/-/d/, /s/-/z/ and /f/-/v/. Results from t...

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Main Author:	Pilus, Zahariah
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Malaysian English Language Association (MELTA) 2005
Subjects:	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/1/zahariah.pdf

id	iium-2561
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-25612016-02-12T09:11:20Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/ Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model Pilus, Zahariah P Philology. Linguistics PE English This paper presents the findings of a perception experiment that was conducted to examine the relative difficulty encountered by Malay speakers of English in contrasting voicing in word-final obstruents. The pairs of obstruents examined in the paper were /t/-/d/, /s/-/z/ and /f/-/v/. Results from the experiment are discussed in relation to the Perceptual Assimilation Model developed by Best (1994, 1995). The theory essentially claims that non-native listeners would classify foreign/ second language sounds into different categories. The relative difficulty faced by foreign or second language learners in discriminating a pair of sounds can then be predicted based on how the second language sounds are categorized. The pairs of sounds under study can be categorized as a Two Category contrast (/t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/) and a Category Goodness contrast (/s/-/z/). Because /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/ are Two Category contrasts, it is predicted that /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/ would be well discriminated for voicing. As a Category Goodness contrast, /s/-/z/ is predicted to be difficult to discriminate. In fact, it would be the most difficult pair to distinguish for voicing among the pairs of obstruents investigated. This paper examines whether or not the findings from the experiment fulfill the above predictions. The paper then discusses some of the implications of the findings on the model. Malaysian English Language Association (MELTA) 2005-05 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/1/zahariah.pdf Pilus, Zahariah (2005) Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model. Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, Inaugr. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1511-8002 http://www.melta.org.my/Doc/The_Perceptual_Assimilation_Model1.pdf
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	P Philology. Linguistics PE English
spellingShingle	P Philology. Linguistics PE English Pilus, Zahariah Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
description	This paper presents the findings of a perception experiment that was conducted to examine the relative difficulty encountered by Malay speakers of English in contrasting voicing in word-final obstruents. The pairs of obstruents examined in the paper were /t/-/d/, /s/-/z/ and /f/-/v/. Results from the experiment are discussed in relation to the Perceptual Assimilation Model developed by Best (1994, 1995). The theory essentially claims that non-native listeners would classify foreign/ second language sounds into different categories. The relative difficulty faced by foreign or second language learners in discriminating a pair of sounds can then be predicted based on how the second language sounds are categorized. The pairs of sounds under study can be categorized as a Two Category contrast (/t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/) and a Category Goodness contrast (/s/-/z/). Because /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/ are Two Category contrasts, it is predicted that /t/-/d/ and /f/-/v/ would be well discriminated for voicing. As a Category Goodness contrast, /s/-/z/ is predicted to be difficult to discriminate. In fact, it would be the most difficult pair to distinguish for voicing among the pairs of obstruents investigated. This paper examines whether or not the findings from the experiment fulfill the above predictions. The paper then discusses some of the implications of the findings on the model.
format	Article
author	Pilus, Zahariah
author_facet	Pilus, Zahariah
author_sort	Pilus, Zahariah
title	Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_short	Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_full	Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_fullStr	Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_full_unstemmed	Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
title_sort	perception of voicing in english word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model
publisher	Malaysian English Language Association (MELTA)
publishDate	2005
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/2561/1/zahariah.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:10:10Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:10:10Z
_version_	1777407424849772544

Perception of voicing in English word-final consonants: examining the perceptual assimilation model

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