Article

Perceptual and Acoustic Similarity of Modern Greek and Standard German Vowels: Does Cross-Linguistic Acoustic Similarity Predict Perception of Non-Native Vowels?

Authors: Payam Ghaffarvand Mokari (University of Eastern Finland) , Maria Lialiou (University of Potsdam)

Abstract

Thirty-four native Modern Greek (MG) listeners with no German language experience completed a perceptual assimilation task in which they categorized tokens of Standard German (SG) vowels in terms of their first language vowel categories. Further,cross-language acoustic similarity of MG and SG vowels was determined by a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) trained on the spectral and temporal information of the vowels. The findings indicate that cross-language acoustic similarity of native and non-native vowels do not always predict non-native perceptual assimilation patterns. Specifically, predictions based on the cross-language LDA were not consistent with the perceptual assimilations patterns for SG front rounded vowels. Finally, MG naïve listeners’ discrimination of SG vowel pairs was also tested; all pairs were found to be easily discriminated by the listeners. We discuss these findings in the light of second language speech perception/acquisition models.

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How to Cite: Mokari, P. G. & Lialiou, M. (2022) “Perceptual and Acoustic Similarity of Modern Greek and Standard German Vowels: Does Cross-Linguistic Acoustic Similarity Predict Perception of Non-Native Vowels?”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings. 12(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/psllt.13270