Perception of non-native click consonant contrasts : implications for theories of speech perception

Perception of click consonants and discrimination of click contrasts by non-native listeners differs depending on whether their native language does or does not employ clicks. Listeners of non-click languages generally perceive click bursts as non-speech sounds and as a result discriminate many click contrasts quite well, whereas listeners of other click languages tend to perceptually assimilate non-native clicks to their native click consonant categories and thus discriminate some non-native click contrasts less well than non-click language listeners even though they clearly have less overall experience with clicks in linguistic contexts. As we discuss in the chapter, these perceptual patterns challenge both classic and contemporary theoretical accounts of experiential effects in speech perception, calling for modifications to those theories.