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Libri Phonetica 1999;56:105–107 = Part I, ‘Introduction’, includes a single Winifred Strange chapter written by the editor. It is an Speech Perception and Linguistic excellent historical review of cross-lan- Experience: Issues in Cross-Language guage studies in speech perception pro- Research viding a clear conceptual framework of York Press, Timonium, 1995 the topic. Strange presents a selective his- 492 pp.; $ 59 tory of research that highlights the main ISBN 0–912752–36–X theoretical themes and methodological paradigms. It begins with a brief descrip- How is speech perception shaped by tion of the basic phenomena that are the experience with our native language and starting points for the investigation: the by exposure to subsequent languages? constancy problem and the question of This is a central research question in units of analysis in speech perception. language perception, which emphasizes Next, the author presents the principal the importance of crosslinguistic studies. theories, methods, findings and limita- Speech Perception and Linguistic Experi- tions in early cross-language research, ence: Issues in Cross-Language Research focused on categorical perception as the contains the contributions to a Workshop dominant paradigm in the study of adult in Cross-Language Perception held at the and infant perception in the 1960s and University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla., 1970s. Finally, Strange reviews the most USA, in May 1992. important findings and conclusions in This text may be said to represent recent cross-language research (1980s and the first compilation strictly focused on early 1990s), which yielded a large theoretical and methodological issues of amount of new information from a wider cross-language perception research. For range of languages and phonetic contrasts. this reason, and in view of the contribu- Part II, ‘Linguistic Experience and the tors’ expertise, this book should be wel- Development of Speech Perception’, con- comed by speech scientists, phoneticians, tains five chapters devoted to the role linguists, psychologists, second language native language experience plays in shap- teachers, speech pathologists, and stu- ing the way speech is perceived. In chap- dents of these disciplines. ter 2, Linda Polka, Peter W. Jusczyk, The book contains 16 chapters orga- and Susan Rvachew provide a review nized in three main sections: (a) investi- of strengths and limitations of the most gation of how speech perception develops important techniques used in cross-lan- in the course of learning the first lan- guage studies with infants and children. guage; (b) assessment of how patterns of With regard to infants, they describe and speech perception may change when a test the High Amplitude Sucking tech- second language is learnt, and (c) explo- nique and its variations, as well as the ration of how speech perceptual patterns Conditioned Head-Turn, the Habituation may be modified in the laboratory or of Visual Fixation, and the Head Turn clinic. These sections are preceded by an Preference procedures. On the other hand, introduction and followed by a final chap- the authors suggest special precautions ter devoted to future directions in cross- when assessing the perceptual abilities language speech perception research. of preschool children (aged 3 years and © 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel 105 0031–8388/99/0562–0105 Fax¤+¤41 61 306 12 34 $17.50/0 E-Mail [email protected] Article accessible online at: www.karger.com http://BioMedNet.com/karger older), mainly to ensure comprehension and how they discriminate non-native and attention to the task, and motivation contrasts against the phonological cate- to perform and complete the task. gories of their native language. This issue Chapter 3, by Peter W. Jusczyk, Eliza- directly connects with the content of the beth A. Hohn and Denise R. Mandel, is following part. devoted to picking up regularities in the Part III, ‘Speech Perception in Second sound structure of the native language. Language Learning’, addresses the ques- These researchers from SUNY at Buffalo tion as to how the perception of speech put forward theoretical considerations as sounds is influenced by the learning of a to how and when infants begin to pick up second language. It opens with a method- information about the organization of L1 ological review of the principal variables sound properties. They review a set of in cross-language speech perception re- studies focused largely on features that search with adults by Patrice S. Beddor relate to phonetic and phonotactic proper- and Terry L. Gottfried (chapter 7). In the ties of the native language, and to the way next chapter James E. Flege reviews the infants’ sensitivity to these properties principal findings and problems in L2 develops. The fourth chapter by Patricia speech learning, and presents his Speech K. Kuhl and Paul Iverson concerns the Learning Model. This model sets out to ‘perceptual magnet effect’ [Kuhl, 1991]: account for age-related limits on the abil- a perceptual distortion around a phonetic ity to produce L2 vowels and consonants prototype. The Native Language Magnet in a native-like fashion. Flege assumes Model maintains that exposure to a par- that ‘the phonetic systems used in the pro- ticular language results in a change of the duction and perception of vowels and acoustic space underlying speech percep- consonants remain adaptive over the life tion. The magnet effect is a very inter- span, and that phonetic systems reorga- esting concept, but later investigations nize in response to sounds encountered in have revealed it to be problematic, at least an L2 through the addition of new pho- in adult perception [Lively and Pisoni, netic categories, or through the modifica- 1997]. In chapter 5, Janet F. Werker dis- tion of old ones’ (p. 233). A consequence cusses age-related changes in infant of Flege’s model is that foreign accents cross-language speech perception and are caused, at least in part, by the inaccu- outlines questions that remain unan- rate perception of sounds in an L2. The swered. phonology of the native language filters Finally in chapter 6, Catherine T. Best out features of L2 sounds that are impor- addresses the topic from an ecological tant phonetically but not phonologically. theoretical perspective, in contrast to the This fact would cause a true ‘perceptual theoretical positions held by other authors foreign accent’ that hinders phonetic pro- in the book (Flege, Jusczyk et al., Kuhl duction of the second language. and Iverson, Werker). Best defends a In chapter 9 Flege’s collaborator Ocke- Direct Realism approach, in which articu- Schwen Bohn centers on the aspects of the latory gestures are assumed to be the per- native language that do not influence the ceptual primitives for speech perception. perception of L2 sounds. In chapter 10 Listeners directly recover these gestures Reiko A. Yamada examines the relation from the speech signal without recourse between the age of L2 acquisition and the to innate knowledge of the vocal tract (as perception of American English /r/ and /l/ the Motor Theory states), in the same way by native speakers of Japanese. In the final as other auditory objects or events are contribution of this part (chapter 11), Hen- perceived. Interestingly, this approach ning Wode discusses the implications of makes a coherent set of predictions about the results of speech perception research how listeners perceive non-native phones, for linguistics, and vice versa. 106 Phonetica 1999;56:105–107 Libri Part IV, ‘Modifying Speech Percep- area is a ‘growth industry’ with multiple tion in the Laboratory and Clinic’, exam- needs for further work on the learning of ines, in four chapters, how speech percep- languages by speakers of many different tion may be modified for applied goals, L1s learning many different L2s, for more especially in second language learning coherent developmental research, for a and articulation disorders. As previous detailed theory of the relation between L1 sections, it begins with a methodological and L2, and for a theory of individual dif- chapter that serves, in part, as an intro- ferences in speech perception. duction to the topic. Thus, John S. Logan In sum, this volume is an extremely and John S. Pruitt (chapter 12) deal with valuable reference book for researchers methodological issues in training listen- and professionals in speech science inter- ers to perceive non-native phonemes. ested in a cross-linguistic perspective. It They mainly review aspects related to is a coherent set of chapters that represent training goals, stimulus presentation in up-to-date summaries on the main issues discrimination and identification tasks, in cross-language speech perception feedback provided to the subject, and research. The authors have different the- duration of training. In the next chapter, oretical orientations; most of them are Bernard Rochet discusses the perceptual heads of research teams and well-known basis of foreign accent along the lines experts in the field. The editor has of Flege, and presents results from two achieved a coherent coordination of con- experiments on auditory training for the tents in a multi-authored volume. There teaching of French sounds in adults. remains a certain – unavoidable – redun- In chapter 14 Susan Rvachew and dancy between some of the chapters, and Donald G. Jamieson propose that adult notwithstanding the excellent general L2 learners have several things in com- introduction to the volume by Winifred mon with young children that misartic- Strange, individual overviews would ulate sounds in their native language, have been welcomed at the beginning of because, in most cases, difficulties in each part. producing sounds are correlated with difficulties in identifying sounds. There- References fore, perceptual training can also im- Kuhl, P.K.: Human adults and human infants show a prove phonological production in the case ‘perceptual magnet effect’ for the prototypes of of articulation-disordered children. The speech categories, monkeys do not.

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