PERCEPTION OF SYNTHETIC VOWELS BY MONOLINGUAL CANADIAN-ENGLISH, MEXICAN-SPANISH, AND PENINSULAR-SPANISH LISTENERS

摘要

Monolingual-Western-Canadian-Engiish listeners, monolingual-Mexican-Spanish listeners, and monolin-gual-Peninsulaf-Spanish listeners classified stimuli from a synthetic vowel continuum which allowed for English /t/, /I/, /ε/, /E/, and Spanish /t/, /εl/, and /ε/ responses. The continuum varied systematically in. initial fbrmant values, vowel inherent spectral change, and vowel duration.. The portion of the stimulus space for which the English listeners' modal response was English /I/ was identified as Spanish hi by both groups of Spanish listeners. Three quarters of the portion of the stimulus space for which the English listeners' modal response was English /I/ was identified as Spanish hi and one-quarter as Spanish vy4105/s/ by Mexican-Spanish listeners, but almost all of this portion of the stimulus space was identified as Spanish lei by Peninsular-Spanish listeners. Spanish dialect may therefore have a substantial effect on first-language-Spanish listeners learning of the Western-Canadian-English /t/-/I/ contrast.