Birdsong has long been a subject of extensive research in the fields of ethology as well as neuroscience. Neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying song acquisition and production in male songbirds are particularly well studied, mainly because birdsong shares some important features with human speech such as critical dependence on vocal learning. However, birdsong, like human speech, primarily functions as communication signals. The mechanisms of song perception and recognition should also be investigated to attain a deeper understanding of the nature of complex vocal signals. Although relatively less attention has been paid to song receivers compared to signalers, recent studies on female songbirds have begun to reveal the neural basis of song preference. Moreover, there are other studies of song preference in juvenile birds which suggest possible functions of preference in social context including the sensory phase of song learning. Understanding the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying the formation, maintenance, expression, and alteration of such song preference in birds will potentially give insight into the mechanisms of speech communication in humans. To pursue this line of research, however, it is necessary to understand current methodological challenges in defining and measuring song preference. In addition, consideration of ultimate questions can also be important for laboratory researchers in designing experiments and interpreting results. Here we summarize the current understanding of song preference in female and juvenile songbirds in the context of Tinbergen’s four questions, incorporating results ranging from ethological field research to the latest neuroscience findings. We also discuss problems and remaining questions in this field and suggest some possible solutions and future directions.
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ADVANCING THE STATE OF THE ART IN L2 SPEECH PERCEPTION-PRODUCTION RESEARCH: REVISITING THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODOLOGICAL PRACTICES
Abstract One of the basic goals of second language (L2) speech research is to understand the perception-production link, or the relationship between L2 speech perception and L2 speech production. Although many studies have examined the link, they have done so with strikingly different conceptual foci and methods. Even studies that appear to use similar perception and production tasks often present nontrivial differences in task characteristics and implementation. This conceptual and methodological variation makes meaningful synthesis of perception-production findings difficult, and it also complicates the process of developing new perception-production models that specifically address how the link changes throughout L2 learning. In this study, we scrutinize theoretical and methodological issues in perception-production research and offer recommendations for advancing theory and practice in this domain. We focus on L2 sound learning because most work in the area has focused on segmental contrasts.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1734166
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10279429
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Studies in Second Language Acquisition
- ISSN:
- 0272-2631
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 26
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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For much of its history, categorical perception was treated as a foundational theory of speech perception, which suggested that quasi-discrete categorization was a goal of speech perception. This had a profound impact on bilingualism research which adopted similar tasks to use as measures of nativeness or native-like processing, implicitly assuming that any deviation from discreteness was a deficit. This is particularly problematic for listeners like heritage speakers whose language proficiency, both in their heritage language and their majority language, is questioned. However, we now know that in the monolingual listener, speech perception is gradient and listeners use this gradiency to adjust subphonetic details, recover from ambiguity, and aid learning and adaptation. This calls for new theoretical and methodological approaches to bilingualism. We present the Visual Analogue Scaling task which avoids the discrete and binary assumptions of categorical perception and can capture gradiency more precisely than other measures. Our goal is to provide bilingualism researchers new conceptual and empirical tools that can help examine speech categorization in different bilingual communities without the necessity of forcing their speech categorization into discrete units and without assuming a deficit model.more » « less
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Abstract For nearly 25 years, researchers have recognized the rich and numerous facets of native perception of non‐native speech, driving a large, and growing, body of work that has shed light on how native listeners understand non‐native speech. The bulk of this work, however, has focused on the talker. That is, most researchers have asked what perception of non‐native speech tells us about the non‐native speaker, or when interacting with non‐native speakers more generally. It is clear that listeners perceive speech not only in terms of the acoustic signal, but also with their own experience and biases driving their perception. It is also clear that native listeners can improve their perception of non‐native speech for both familiar and unfamiliar accents. Therefore, it is imperative that research in non‐native communication also consider an active role for the listener. To truly understand communication between native and non‐native speakers, it is critically important to understand both the properties of non‐native speech and how this speech is perceived. In the present review, we describe non‐native speech and then review previous research, examining the methodological shift from using native listeners as tools to understand properties of non‐native speech to understanding listeners as partners in conversation. We discuss how current models not only limit our understanding of non‐native speech, but also limit what types of questions researchers set out to answer. We demonstrate that while non‐native speakers capable of shifting their productions to be better understood by listeners, native listeners are also capable of shifting their perception to more accurately perceive non‐native speech. We conclude by setting forth a series of recommendations for future research, emphasizing the contributions of native listeners and non‐native speakers as equally important for communicative success.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000371
