Abstract
![CDATA[French listeners tend to hear illegal utterance-initial /tl/ and /dl/clusters as /kl/ and /gl/, respectively, when speech is produced by French speakers. We re-examined this phenomenon, once called “phonotactic perceptual assimilation,” in a cross-linguistic design using Modern Hebrew. In Hebrew, virtually all the obstruent-liquid clusters are permissible, including /dl, tl/. French and Israeli listeners were tested on their discrimination performance for the /dl/-/gl/ and /tl/-kl/ contrasts, using monosyllables such as /tla, kla/ produced by a native speaker of Hebrew. French listeners showed substantial difficulty at discriminating these contrasts –especially /tl/-/kl/- whereas Israeli listeners experienced a slight difficulty only for /tl/-/kl/. French listeners categorised a velar the initial consonant of the /tl/ items and, but much less often, that of the /dl/ items. Altogether then, the /tl/-to-/kl/ perceptual assimilation is largely language-specific. Yet, it might be partly determined by universal perceptual constraints that seem to emerge in Modern Hebrew]]
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona 3-9 August 2003 |
Publisher | Causal Productions |
Number of pages | 4 |
ISBN (Print) | 1876346485 |
Publication status | Published - 2003 |
Event | International Congress of Phonetic Sciences - Duration: 17 Aug 2011 → … |
Conference
Conference | International Congress of Phonetic Sciences |
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Period | 17/08/11 → … |
Keywords
- speech perception
- phonetics
- vowels
- consonants
- French speakers
- Israeli speakers