Musicians are better at learning non-native sound contrasts even in non-tonal languages
Files
(Published version)
Date
2012
Authors
Perfors, A.
Ong, J.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference paper
Citation
Building Bridges Across Cognitive Sciences Around the World: Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, held in Sapporo, Japan, 1-4 August, 2012 / N. Miyake, D. Peebles and R.P. Cooper (eds.): pp.839-844
Statement of Responsibility
Amy Perfors and Jia Hoong Ong
Conference Name
Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (34th : 2012 : Sapporo, Japan)
Abstract
It is very difficult for adults to perceive phonetic contrasts in their non-native language. In this study we explored the effects of phonetic training for different populations of people (musicians and non-musicians)and with different kinds of phoneme contrast (timing-based, like the Hindi /g/-/k/ contrast, and pitch-based, like the Mandarin /l/-/l/ tonal contrast). We found that musicians had superior perception for both contrasts, not just the pitch-based one. For both phonemes, training had little to no effect. We consider the implications of this for first and second language acquisition.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright status unknown