Abstract
Humans and monkeys were compared in their identification of phoneme boundaries along synthetic stop-glide continua in syllable-initial /ba/-/wa/ or syllable-final /bab/-/baw/ contrasts differing in overall syllable duration. For both contrasts, humans were first tested with a conventional written identification procedure. Here, similar phoneme boundaries emerged and shifted with increases in syllable duration toward longer transitions, as has previously been reported in the literature for syllable-initial data (Miller & Liberman, 1979). Humans and monkeys were then tested on these contrasts, using a go/no-go identification procedure specifically designed for monkeys. Here also, stop-glide boundaries emerged and shifted with increased syllable duration for both species, although monkey “boundaries” were at longer durations than humans’ in syllable-final position. The results indicate that there are both gross similarities and subtle differences between humans and monkeys with regard to the stop-glide context effect. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that general mammalian auditory mechanisms are responsible for this effect.
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This research was supported by NIH RCDA Awards K04 DC00042 and ROI DC00541 to J.M.S. Portions of this research were based on a master’s thesis by M.A.B, in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of South Alabama.
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Sinnott, J.M., Brown, C.H. & Borneman, M.A. Effects of syllable duration on stop-glide identification in syllable-initial and syllable-final position by humans and monkeys. Perception & Psychophysics 60, 1032–1043 (1998). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211937
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211937