Perceptual Normalization for Inter- and Intratalker Variation in Cantonese Level Tones

Wong, Patrick C. M.; Diehl, Randy L.

doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2003/034)

Cited by 158 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Those category boundaries that are not defined in terms of the location of regions of naturally heightened auditory sensitivity appear to be defined in a talkerdependent manner. The results presented by Wong and Diehl (2003) showed that Cantonese listeners are strongly influenced by contextual information when making level tone category decisions, providing a basis for the observation that listeners have difficulty identifying level tone categories presented in isolation. The differences observed here between the discrimination performance predicted by the level tone identificationtask in and out of context (see Figure 5) strongly support this hypothesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

On the (non)categorical perception of lexical tones

Francis

Ciocca

2003

Perception & Psychophysics

136

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Identification and discrimination of lexical tones in Cantonese were compared in the context of a traditional categoricalperception paradigm. Three lexical tone continua were used: one ranging from low level to high level, one from high rising to high level, and one from low falling to high rising. Identification data showed steep slopes at category boundaries, suggesting that lexical tones are perceived categorically. In contrast, discrimination curves generally showed much weaker evidence for categorical perception. Subsequent investigation showed that the presence of a tonal context played a strong role in the identification of target tones and less of a role in discrimination. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that tonal category boundaries are determined by a combination of regions of natural auditory sensitivity and the influence of linguistic experience.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

On the (non)categorical perception of lexical tones

Francis

Ciocca

2003

Perception & Psychophysics

136

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“…When a speech signal enters the auditory system, spectro-temporal characteristics of the signal are processed to extract the linguistic information (see the first arrow in Figure 5). Acoustic parameters carrying talker information such as F0, F3 and voice quality will be analyzed (Green, Tomiak, & Kuhl, 1997;Kaganovich, Francis, & Melara, 2006;Magnuson & Nusbaum, 2007;Mullennix & 35 Pisoni, 1990;Mullennix, Pisoni, & Martin, 1989;Nusbaum & Magnuson, 1997;Nusbaum & Morin, 1992;Wong & Diehl, 2003;Wong, Nusbaum, & Small, 2004;Zhang, Pugh, Mencl, Molfese, Frost, Magnuson, Peng, & Wang, 2016). The analyzed talker characteristics are likely checked against learned talker models stored in memory to see if the characteristics match any familiar talkers.…”

Section: General Discussion: a New Model Of Talker Normalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is plenty of evidence that listeners estimate the location/identity of a lexical tone according to the distribution of a talker's speaking F0 in a speech context (Chen & Peng, 2015;Francis, Ciocca, Wong, Leung, & Chu, 2006;Huang & Holt, 2009;Leather, 1983;Lin & Wang, 1984;Moore & Jongman, 1997;Wong & Diehl, 2003;Zhang et al, 2012Zhang et al, , 2013. Lin and Wang (1984) investigated how the relative F0 height of a single-word context affected the perception of Mandarin tones.…”

Section: Extrinsic Normalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an integrative model of talker normalization.

Zhang¹,

Chen²

2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Successful speech perception requires accurate mapping of speech signals to linguistic categories despite talker variation in signals. Although factors like intrinsic and context cues have been identified, a full understanding of talker normalization remains to be achieved. In particular, it is important to examine the cocontribution of intrinsic, extrinsic and other cues in an integrative way. In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of intrinsic cues and typicality of a talker’s F0 range relative to population F0 range on word identification in isolation. In Experiment 2, we compared the effects of 4 contexts to identify those that consistently facilitate talker normalization. We found that without contexts, word identification accuracy was low and variable depending on talker typicality. Contexts improved performance across all talkers regardless of typicality. But only meaningless and meaningful speech contexts with cues to a talker’s acoustic-phonological space showed consistent effects. We proposed a new model, integrating talker typicality, talker familiarity, and context. Whereas speech signals from familiar or typical talkers may be accurately identified standing alone, a context with cues to a talker’s acoustic-phonological space is necessary in the case of unfamiliar and atypical talkers. It is thus the first model that integrates memory and context effects.

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“…Lexical tone perception research has mainly focused on psychological processes (Xu, 1994;Wong and Diehl, 2003) and gross hemispheric specialization (Gandour et al, 1997). Recently, several neuroimaging studies have been conducted (Gandour et al, 2000) and reported activations in left inferior frontal regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of the Insular Cortex in Pitch Pattern Perception: The Effect of Linguistic Contexts

Wong¹,

Parsons²,

Martínez³

et al. 2004

J. Neurosci.

132

114

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Auditory pitch patterns are significant ecological features to which nervous systems have exquisitely adapted. Pitch patterns are found embedded in many contexts, enabling different information-processing goals. Do the psychological functions of pitch patterns determine the neural mechanisms supporting their perception, or do all pitch patterns, regardless of function, engage the same mechanisms? This issue is pursued in the present study by using 15 0-water positron emission tomography to study brain activations when two subject groups discriminate pitch patterns in their respective native languages, one of which is a tonal language and the other of which is not. In a tonal language, pitch patterns signal lexical meaning. Native Mandarin-speaking and English-speaking listeners discriminated pitch patterns embedded in Mandarin and English words and also passively listened to the same stimuli. When Mandarin listeners discriminated pitch embedded in Mandarin lexical tones, the left anterior insular cortex was the most active. When they discriminated pitch patterns embedded in English words, the homologous area in the right hemisphere activated as it did in English-speaking listeners discriminating pitch patterns embedded in either Mandarin or English words. These results support the view that neural responses to physical acoustic stimuli depend on the function of those stimuli and implicate anterior insular cortex in auditory processing, with the left insular cortex especially responsive to linguistic stimuli.

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Perceptual Normalization for Inter- and Intratalker Variation in Cantonese Level Tones

Cited by 158 publications

References 15 publications

On the (non)categorical perception of lexical tones

On the (non)categorical perception of lexical tones

Toward an integrative model of talker normalization.

The Role of the Insular Cortex in Pitch Pattern Perception: The Effect of Linguistic Contexts

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