Cross-language speech perception in adults: phonemic, phonetic, and acoustic contributions

Cross-language studies have shown that foreign consonant contrasts vary in the degree of perceptual difficulty which they present adult non-native listeners. Phonemic, phonetic, and acoustic factors have been considered important in accounting for this variability. These factors were examined by comparing English listeners' perception of the Hindi retroflex versus dental place-of-articulation contrast in four different voicing contexts: voiceless unaspirated, breathy voiced, voiceless aspirated, and prevoiced. Differences in perceptual difficulty of the four contrasts were predicted based on (1) phonemic status (the functional status of the contrast in the listeners' native phonology), (2) phonetic experience (as allophones or free variants), and (3) differences in acoustic salience related to voicing. Performance was not "nativelike" for any of the four contrasts; however, significant differences in perceptual difficulty among the four contrasts were evident. Perceptual differences were correlated with both acoustic salience of place cues and subjects' descriptions of their assimilation strategies.