Ling151/Psych156A:AcquisitionofLanguageII
Lecture6SoundsIII
Announcements
BeworkingonHW2(due1/26/18)
Beworkingonthesounds&soundsofwordsreviewquestions
Learningsounds
Moreaboutcontrastivesounds
Thereareanumberofacousticallysalientfeaturesforsounds.Allittakesforsoundstobecontrastiveisforthemtohave“opposite”valuesforonefeature.
Moreaboutcontrastivesounds
Example:Englishsounds“k”and“g”differonlywithrespecttovoicing(VOT).They’reprettymuchidenticalonallotherfeatures.ManycontrastivesoundsinEnglishusethevoicingfeatureastherelevantfeatureofcontrast(p/b,t/d,s/z,etc.).However,thereareotherfeaturesthatareusedaswell(airflow,mannerofarticulation,etc.).
Moreaboutcontrastivesounds
Taskforthechild:Figureoutwhichfeaturesareusedcontrastivelybythelanguage.Contrastivesoundsforthelanguagewillusuallyvarywithrespecttooneofthosefeatures.
voicing
p/b,t/d,s/z
Experimentalstudy:Dietrich,Swingley&Werker2007
DutchandEnglishcontrastivefeaturesdiffer.
InEnglish,thelength(duration)ofthevowelisnotcontrastive “cat”=“caat”
InDutch,thelength(duration)ofthevoweliscontrastive
“cat”≠ “caat”
(Japanesealsousesthisfeature)
Testingchildren’sperceptionofcontrastivesounds
Doesthedatadistributionshowthis?DutchandEnglishvowelsoundsinthenativelanguageenvironmentalsoseemtodiffer
“…studiessuggestthatdifferencesbetweenthelongandshortvowelsofDutcharelargerthananyanalogousdifferencesforEnglish.”–Dietrichetal.2007
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
whatthesounddistributionsmaylooklike
short longshort long
Doesthedatadistributionshowthis?DutchandEnglishvowelsoundsinthenativelanguageenvironmentalsoseemtodiffer
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
Dutchvowellengthusedcontrastively;vowelstendtobeeitherveryshortorverylong
short long
Doesthedatadistributionshowthis?DutchandEnglishvowelsoundsinthenativelanguageenvironmentalsoseemtodiffer
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
Englishvowellengthnotusedcontrastively;vowelstendtobelessshortandlesslong(comparatively)
short long
Doesthedatadistributionshowthis?DutchandEnglishvowelsoundsinthenativelanguageenvironmentalsoseemtodiffer
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
Dutch=bimodaldistribution?
Doesthedatadistributionshowthis?DutchandEnglishvowelsoundsinthenativelanguageenvironmentalsoseemtodiffer
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
English=unimodaldistribution?
Learningfromrealdatadistributions
Howdoweknowthatchildrenaresensitivetodistributionalinformationlikethis?
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
Createdsyntheticsoundsrangingfrom[da]to[ta]thatwerenon-nativefortheinfants(becausetheywereunaspirated–withoutthelittlepuffofairafterthem).
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
• Familiarized6-to8-month-oldinfantstooneoftwosets– BimodalSet:Soundsontheendsnear[da]and[ta].– UnimodalSet:Soundsinthemiddle.
• Testpreferencefor:– 3636…(Alternating)vs.3333…(Non-alternating)stimuli
==<<
3 6 3 6 … 3 3 3 3
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
==
InfantstrainedontheBimodaldatahadanoveltypreferencefornon-alternatingtrials.Theylearnedtoexpectalteration,andweresurprisedbynon-alteration.
3 6 3 6 … 3 3 3 3
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
<<
==
InfantstrainedontheUnimodaldatadidnotprefer/dispreferoneovertheother.Thedidnotseemtolearnanyexpectation.
3 6 3 6 … 3 3 3 3
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
<<
==
3 6 3 6 … 3 3 3 3
Maye,Werker,&Gerken2002
<<
Oneexplanation:Infantsexpectedallthesoundstobeinonecategorysotheywereallthe“same”,whetheritwasalternatingornon-alternatingtokens.
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
CreatedsoundsderivedfromHindispeechsounds,rangingfrom[da]to[ta]andfrom[ga]to[ka],varyinginvoiceonsettime(VOT).Allofthesewerenon-nativesoundsforEnglishspeakers,since[da]and[ga]wereprevoiced(VOT~-50ms)and[ta]and[ka]wereunaspirated(withoutthelittlepuffofair).
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Thelookingtimesforthefinalhabituationtrialsindicatehowlonginfantswerewillingtolistentothe7mssound(token6)playedoverandoveragain.
12345678
6 6 6 6…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Thelookingtimesforthechangetrialsindicatehowlonginfantswerewillingtolistentothe-50mssound(token3),aftertheyhadbeenlisteningtothe7mssound(token6). 12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Ifinfantsareabletodiscriminatethetwosounds(token3andtoken6),theyshouldbeinterestedwhentheyperceivethesoundchange.Thismeansthelookingtimesinthechangetrialswouldbehigherthaninthefinalhabituationtrials.
12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Infantstrainedonabimodaldistributiondidperceivethesoundcontrast.
12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Infantstrainedonaunimodaldistributiondidnotperceivethesoundcontrast.
12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
(Again,thismayhavebeenbecausetheyperceivedallsoundsasbelongingtothesamecategory.)
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Infantstrainedonnon-languagestimuli(usedasacontrol)wereveryuninterestedinthesoundchange–theydidnotdetectit.(They’remoreinterestedinthesounditself,sincetheyhadn’tyetdishabituated.)
12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Lookingtimeinms
<≈><
Infantstrainedonabimodaldistributionofonecontrast(ex:[da]vs.[ta])wereabletogeneralizetheVOTdistinctiontoasoundcontrasttheyhadnotheardbefore(ex:[ga]vs.[ka]).
Thatis,theyrecognizedvoicingasacontrastivefeature.
12345678
6 6 6 6… 6 6 3…
Maye,Weiss,&Aslin2008
Theseresultssuggestveryyounginfantsarecapableofusingthedistributionalinformationavailableintheirinputtocategoricallyperceivesounds.
Thiscanbeperceptionofsoundsasbelongingtoasinglecategory[unimodaldistribution]ortotwocategories[bimodaldistribution].
12345678
BacktoDietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007“…studiessuggestthatdifferencesbetweenthelongandshortvowelsofDutcharelargerthananyanalogousdifferencesforEnglish.”–Dietrichetal.2007
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
Dutch=bimodaldistribution?English=unimodaldistribution?
BacktoDietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Predictionifchildrenaresensitivetothisdistribution
Dutchchildrenshouldinterpretvoweldurationasameaningfulcontrastbecausethedistributionismorebimodal
Implication:Changetovowelduration=newword
BacktoDietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Predictionifchildrenaresensitivetothisdistribution
Englishchildrenshouldnotinterpretvoweldurationasameaningfulcontrastbecausethedistributionismoreunimodal
Implication:Changetovowelduration=samewordasbefore
Dutchchildren:Changetovowelduration=newword
BacktoDietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Predictionifchildrenaresensitivetothisdistribution
Dutchchildren:Changetovowelduration=newword
Englishchildren:Changetovowelduration=samewordasbefore
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Testswith18-month-oldchildrenwhoknowsomewords(andsohavefiguredoutthemeaningfulsoundsintheirlanguage)
“Switch”Procedure:measureslookingtime
Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
“Switch”Procedure:measureslookingtime
…thisisatam…lookatthetam
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Habituation
Test
Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
“Switch”Procedure:measureslookingtime
…thisisatam…lookatthetam
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Habituation
Test
Shouldberelativelyexpected
Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
“Switch”Procedure:measureslookingtime
…thisisatam…lookatthetam
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Habituation
Test
Expectedifthesearen’tcontrastive
Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
“Switch”Procedure:measureslookingtime
…thisisatam…lookatthetam
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Habituation
Test
Unexpectedifthesearecontrastive
Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Experiment1:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonDutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
Frequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0Dutch English
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Experiment1:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonDutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
5.04sec 9.23sec
difference
Dutch
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Experiment1:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonDutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
Dutch
English
6.66sec 7.15sec nodifference
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Experiment1:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonDutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
Dutch
English
nodifference
ItseemsliketheseDutchdurationdifferencesarecontrastivejustfortheDutchkids.
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment2:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonEnglishvoweldurations
Frequency
Vowelduration0
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment2:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonEnglishvoweldurations
difference
Dutch
5.92sec 8.16sec
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment2:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonEnglishvoweldurations
difference
Dutch
English
7.34sec 8.04secnodifference
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetaam!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment2:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonEnglishvoweldurations
difference
Dutch
English
nodifference
ItseemsliketheseEnglishdurationdifferencesarecontrastivejustfortheDutchkids(eventhoughthedifferencebetweenthemisless).
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetem!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment3:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonvowelqualitycontrast(a/e)
Exp2:Englishvoweldurations
difference
nodifference
Frequency
Vowelduration0
(ThisisacontrolconditiontomakesureEnglishkidscandothetaskwhenthesoundiscontrastiveforthem)
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetem!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment3:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonvowelqualitycontrast(a/e)
Exp2:Englishvoweldurations
difference
nodifferencedifference
Dutch
4.08sec 5.72sec
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetem!
Test
difference
nodifference
Experiment3:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonvowelqualitycontrast(a/e)
Exp2:Englishvoweldurations
difference
nodifference
difference
Dutch
English
6.31sec 9.31sec difference
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
Same:lookatthetam!
Switch:lookatthetem!
difference
nodifference
Experiment3:TestingEnglishandDutchkidsonvowelqualitycontrast(a/e)
Exp2:Englishvoweldurations
difference
nodifference
difference
Dutch
English
difference
Phew—itlookslikeEnglishkidscaninfactdothetask.Theybehaveastheyshouldwhentheyperceiveacontrast.
Test
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Exp1:Dutchvoweldurations
difference
nodifference
Exp2:Englishvoweldurations
difference
nodifference
Exp3:Vowelquality
difference
difference
Implicationsofexperiments1,2,and3:DutchchildrenrecognizevoweldurationascontrastivefortheirlanguagewhileEnglishchildrendonot.
Thiscanonlybeduetothedataencounteredbyeachsetofchildrenintheirlanguage.
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007Thiscanonlybeduetothedataencounteredbyeachsetofchildrenintheirlanguage.
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
English
Dutchchildrenhaveacategoryboundaryapproximatelyhere.Englishchildrendonot.
Dutch
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Whatdriveschildrentolearnthisdistinction?
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
Itcan’tbethewordstheyknowintheirvocabulary—“childrenthatyoungdonotseemtoknowmanywordpairsthatcouldclearlyindicateadistinction”
Dutch
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Whatdriveschildrentolearnthisdistinction?
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
Dutch
“childrenbegintoinducephonologicalcategories‘bottom-up’,basedontheirdiscoveryofclustersofspeechsoundsinphoneticspace…”
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Whatdriveschildrentolearnthisdistinction?
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
Dutch
“AnecessaryconditionforsuchlearningtobethedrivingforcebehindDutchchildren’sphonologicalinterpretationinthepresentstudiesisthatlongandshortvowelsbemoreclearlyseparableinDutchthaninEnglish”
Dietrich,Swingley,&Werker2007
Whatdriveschildrentolearnthisdistinction?
DutchFrequencyofsoundininput
Vowelduration0
Dutch
“…preliminaryexaminationofthisproblemusingcorporaofDutchchild-directedspeechindicatedthatthesetoflongandshortinstancesformedlargelyoverlappingdistributions.”
TheactualdistributionofDutchsounds
Uhoh!
Adriaans&Swingley2012Onesolution:Motheresemayprovideexaggerateddistributionswhensoundsareemphasized(givenacousticfocus),whichcanhelpinfantsfigureoutthecontrastivesounds.
ThreevowelcategoriesforEnglishspeakers
Alearningmodeltrainedonallsoundsinmotherese
Alearningmodeltrainedon“acousticallyfocused”soundsinmotherese
Thisonelooksalotclosertotherightcategories.
Swingley2009
Anotherpotentialsourceofinformation:Keepsomecontextualinformationforeachvowelsound(whatworditcamefrom,ifitcomesfromafrequentword).
Feldmanetal.2009,2013Assumingthatsoundsarepartofwordscanbehelpful–thissuggeststhatlearningaboutsoundsandwordsatthesametimeiseasierthanlearningsoundsseparatelyandthenlearningwords.(Feldman,Griffiths,&Morgan2009,Feldman,Griffiths,Goldwater,&Morgan2013)
VowelcategoriesforEnglishspeakers
Vowelcategorieslearnedbyacomputationalmodelwhensoundsareassumedtobepartofwords
Thislooksprettyclose!
Antetomasoetal.2017
But…theactualdatachildrenfacearemessierthanthisparticularmodelofsimultaneoussound&wordlearningcancurrentlyhandle(Antetomaso,Miyazawa,Feldman,Elsner,Hitczenko,&Mazuka2017).
Englishvowelcategorysamplesinwordcontextsfromactualchild-directedspeech
Thislooksalotmessier
Englishvowelcategorysamplesinwordcontextsthatthemodellearnedsuccessfullyfrombefore
Feldmanetal.2013b
Experimentalevidencethatinfantsarehelpedbywordcontextwhenfiguringoutsoundsarecontrastive:8-month-oldsdobetteratdistinguishingsoundsthatareheardindifferentwordcontexts(Feldman,Myers,White,Griffiths,&Morgan2013).
Feldmanetal.2013bDistinguishingsoundsthatareheardindifferentwordcontexts
12345678ah…………………aw
“ah”/a/vs.“aw”/ç/Minimalpaircontext: gutah….gutawNon-minimalpaircontext: gutah…litaw
Non-alternatingtrial: 3..3..3…or6…6…6…Alternatingtrial: 1…8…1…8
Feldmanetal.2013bDistinguishingsoundsthatareheardindifferentwordcontexts
12345678
ah…………………aw
Infantswhoheardthesoundsinthesame“word”don’tnoticethesoundchange(soundsarenotcontrastive).
Infantswhoheardthesoundsindifferent“words”noticethesoundchange(soundsarecontrastive).Theyaresurprisedwhenthesoundsdon’talternate.
Non-alternatingtrial:3..3..3…or6…6…6…Alternatingtrial: 1…8…1…8
gutah….gutaw
gutah…litaw
Asadults,wecanlookatalanguageandfigureoutwhatthecontrastivesoundsarebylookingatwhatchangesaword’smeaning.Butchildrencan’tdothis-theyfigureoutthecontrastivesoundsbeforetheyfigureoutmanywordformsandwordmeanings.
Discoveringcontrastivesounds:What’sthepointofitagain?
Theideaisthatoncechildrendiscoverthemeaningfulsoundsintheirlanguage,theycanbegintofigureoutwhatthewordsare.
Ex:AnEnglishchildwillknowthat“cat”and“caat”arethesameword(andshouldhavethesamemeaning).
Recap:Sounds
Childrenneedtolearnwhatthephonemesoftheirlanguagearebylisteningtotheirnativelanguageinput,andphonemeswillbecontrastivewithrespecttoatleastonefeature(likedurationorvoicing).
Infantsseemabletousethestatisticaldistributionofsoundstohelptheminferwhichsoundsarecontrastive.
Itmaybehelpfulforchildrentokeeptrackofwheretheyhearparticularsounds(thatis,inwhichwords)inordertofigureoutthephonemesoftheirlanguage.
Questions?
Youshouldbeabletodoupthroughquestion3onHW2andupthroughquestion25onthesounds&soundsofwordsreviewquestions.
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