A. Cross-Language Study on the Perception of [r-1] : A Preliminary Report

Abstract

The present study has been concerned with the perception of synthetic speechsounds of [r-1] continuum by speakers of different languages. Specifically, the study has examined how the differences of the linguistic function of liquids in English, Spanish, Hindi, Chinese, Korean and Japanese affect the perception of the synthetic continuum and has reported the results of identification and discrimination tests. So far as our subjects were concerned, the results have indicated that different modes of perception appeared depending on the phonemic functions of liquids in each language. The boundary between /r/ and /I/ differed systematically in each language and, as a general trend, the speakers having a phonemic function of /r/ and /I/ showed a categorical mode of perception and differences of linguistic experience cause those of perceptual mode.