The lexical statistics of word recognition problems caused by L2 phonetic confusion

Anne Cutler

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

    Abstract

    Phonetic confusions in L2 listening lead to three types of problem at the lexical level: inability to distinguish minimal pairs (e.g. write, light), spurious activation of embedded words (e.g. write in delighted) and delay in resolution of ambiguity (e.g. distinction between register and legislate at the sixth instead of the first phoneme). The statistics of each of these, computated from a 70,000+ word English lexicon backed by frequency statistics from a 17.9 million word corpus, establish that each causes substantial added difficulty for L2 listeners.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationInterspeech Lisboa 2005: 9th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology, September 4-8, 2005
    PublisherCausal Productions
    Number of pages4
    Publication statusPublished - 2005
    EventInterspeech -
    Duration: 6 Sept 2015 → …

    Publication series

    Name
    ISSN (Print)1018-4074

    Conference

    ConferenceInterspeech
    Period6/09/15 → …

    Keywords

    • second language acquisition
    • phonetics
    • listening
    • word recognition
    • English language

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The lexical statistics of word recognition problems caused by L2 phonetic confusion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this