HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

PerMSAA · Perceptual Mechanisms that Support Accent Accommodation

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-08-01 → 2025-07-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 181 153 €
Участници: 1
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

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Накратко на български

Механизмите, чрез които хората се адаптират към чужд акцент при говорене, са в центъра на анализа. Разбирането на този процес помага за подобряване на комуникацията между носители на езика и хора, които го учат.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Perceptual Mechanisms that Support Accent Accommodation

To understand spoken language, listeners must map complex acoustic input onto linguistic representations in their mental lexicons. While this process often appears effortless, the acoustics of spoken language can vary dramatically between speakers. In particular, variation in how second-language (L2) speakers produce the sounds of a language (i.e., ‘foreign’ accents) can increase the difficulties of speech perception. Prior work shows that listeners are highly adaptable, and can rapidly accommodate unfamiliar variation in accented speech, but what remains unclear is how listeners rapidly adapt to accented talkers. In the European community, inter-language and inter-accent communication is increasingly pervasive. The current project’s pathway to impact was via acquisition of knowledge that can combat societal biases. The burden of improving communication among first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers is often placed on the L2 speakers, who are expected to “reduce” their accents. However, prior research indicates that L1 listeners can also contribute to this process via accent accommodation. To understand the mechanics of this process, we must first understand the mechanism(s) that support listeners’ adaptation to unfamiliar accents. In many international settings (e.g., university classrooms and business meetings), these tools would have enormous potential for improving communication. Given the pervasive increase in inter-language and inter-accent communication in the European community, this initiative was an important step towards improving overall communication among L1 and L2 speakers. The scale of this project was limited, but the impact was large in terms of understanding cognition of language. The primary aim of the proposed project was to improve our theoretical understanding of the perceptual mechanisms that support accent accommodation, and that aim was met.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Understanding spoken language requires listeners to map complex acoustic input onto linguistic representations in their mental lexicons. The difficulty of this process is increased by variation in the acoustics of spoken language. In particular, variation in how second-language (L2) speakers produce the sounds of a language (i.e., ‘foreign’ accents) can hinder the efficiency of speech perception. Prior work has indicated that listeners are highly adaptable, and can rapidly accommodate unfamiliar variation in accented speech, but what remains unclear is how listeners rapidly adapt to accented talkers. Many authors have proposed that listeners may “tune” to accented speakers by shifting their phonemic category boundaries (phonemic recalibration). However, attempts to directly link phonemic recalibration to accommodation of natural L2 accents have resulted in mixed outcomes. An alternative perceptual mechanism that has been proposed for accent accommodation is criteria relaxation. On this view, when encountering an unfamiliar accent, listeners relax their thresholds for accepting input as a particular phoneme, lexical item, and so on. Relatedly, listeners may rely less on categorical boundaries when processing L2 accent.The primary aim of the proposed project is to improve our theoretical understanding of the perceptual mechanism(s) that support accent accommodation. In a series of three experiments, we will investigate the roles of phonemic recalibration and criteria relaxation using a combination of behavioral and psychophysiological measures. Specifically, our interdisciplinary approach will examine shifts in phonemic category boundaries and changes to within-category sensitivity, as well as the rate and cognitive demands of lexical activation for accented items. Ultimately, PerMSAA will increase our theoretical understanding of how listeners accommodate L2 accents, which is a skill that can be leveraged to improve overall communication between L1 and L2 speakers.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

BCBL BASQUE CENTER ON COGNITION BRAIN AND LANGUAGE · San SebastianКоординаторИспания