Cover Image
QR Code

Japanese Perceptual Epenthesis is Modulated by Transitional Probability.

Perceptual epenthesis is the perception of illusory vowels in consonantal sequences that violate native phonotactics. The consensus has been that each language has a single, predictable candidate for perceptual epenthesis, that vowel which is most minimal (i.e., shortest and/or quietest). However, r...

Full description

Published in:Language & Speech Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 203 - 224
Main Authors: Kilpatrick, Alexander, Kawahara, Shigeto, Bundgaard-Nielsen, Rikke, Baker, Brett, Fletcher, Janet
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Mar2021
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=149305920&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 149305920
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00238309
        3YY
      jtl: Language & Speech
      issn: 00238309
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Mar2021
      vid: 64
      iid: 1
      pid: 344
      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
    artinfo:
      ui:
        149305920
        146267977
        149305920
        149305920
        10.1177/0023830920930042
        149305920
      ppf: 203
      ppct: 21
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Japanese Perceptual Epenthesis is Modulated by Transitional Probability.
      aug:
        au:
          Kilpatrick, Alexander
          Kawahara, Shigeto
          Bundgaard-Nielsen, Rikke
          Baker, Brett
          Fletcher, Janet
        affil: University of Melbourne, Australia
      sug:
        subj:
          Speech Perception Evaluation
          Vowels
          Consonants
          Probability
          Human
          Japan
          Experimental Studies
          Male
          Female
          Adult
          Students, College
          Speech Discrimination Tests
          Questionnaires
          Acoustic Stimulation
          Descriptive Statistics
          Repeated Measures
          Analysis of Variance
          Post Hoc Analysis
          Reaction Time
          Linear Regression
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Perceptual epenthesis is the perception of illusory vowels in consonantal sequences that violate native phonotactics. The consensus has been that each language has a single, predictable candidate for perceptual epenthesis, that vowel which is most minimal (i.e., shortest and/or quietest). However, recent studies have shown that alternate epenthetic vowels can be perceived when the perceptual epenthesis of the minimal vowel would violate native co-occurrence restrictions. We propose a potential explanation for these observed patterns: speech perception, and thus also vowel perceptual epenthesis, is modulated by transitional probability whereby epenthetic vowels must conform to the language specific expectations of the listener. To test this explanation, we present two experiments examining perceptual epenthesis of two Japanese vowels—/u/ and /i/—against their transitional probability in CV sequences. In Experiment 1, Japanese listeners assigned VCCV tokens to VCuCV and VCiCV categories. In Experiment 2, participants discriminated VCCV tokens from VCuCV and VCiCV tokens. The results show that sequences where /i/ is transitionally probable are more likely to elicit /i/ perceptual epenthesis.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N