Slips of the Ear as Clues for Speech Processing

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show how slips of the ear can contribute to the understanding of spoken word processing be native speakers and second language learners and to the description of the structure of the mental lexicon for native and second languages. In our experiment, 30 native Russian speakers and 30 Chinese students learning Russian as a second language listened to 100 Russian words and had to write them down. We analyzed the mistakes in the answers of the both groups of participants checking different linguistic and psycholinguistic parameters (phonetic factors, part-of-speech, priming and frequency effects). We found out that the native language of a listener influences the recognition of spoken words both in native and non-native language on the phonetic level. The processing on higher levels is less language specific: we found evidence that the word frequency effect and priming effect are relevant for processing Russian words by both native and non-native speakers.

Appendix

Lists of stimuli (in the order they were presented in the experiment)

#	Stimulus and translation	Number of syllables	Part of speech	#	Stimulus and translation	Number of syllables	Part of speech
1	chelovek ‘man/person’	3	noun	51	pogibnut’ ‘perish’	3	verb
2	ljubit’ ‘to love’	2	verb	52	ves’ ‘whole’	1	pronoun
3	gotovyj ‘ready’	3	adjective	53	familija ‘last name’	4	noun
4	fil’m ‘movie’	1	noun	54	khotet’ ‘to want’	2	verb
5	skazat’ ‘to tell’	2	verb	55	obshchestvo ‘society’	3	noun
6	zhenschina ‘woman’	3	noun	56	ijun’ ‘June’	2	noun
7	vmeste ‘together’	2	adverb	57	snjat’ ‘to take off’	1	verb
8	porjadok ‘order’	3	noun	58	ljogkij ‘easy, light’	2	adjective
9	pervyj ‘first’	2	numeral	59	nazad ‘back’	2	adverb
10	stikhi ‘poems’	2	noun	60	uspekh ‘success’	2	noun
11	vzjat’ ‘to take’	1	verb	61	region ‘region’	3	noun
12	khorosho ‘well’	3	adverb	62	verit’ ‘to believe’	2	verb
13	forma ‘form’	2	noun	63	tjotja ‘aunt’	2	noun
14	den’gi ‘money’	2	noun	64	kljuch ‘key’	1	noun
15	daljokij ‘distant’	3	adjective	65	srazu ‘at once’	2	adverb
16	protsess ‘process’	2	noun	66	predlozhenie ‘sentence, offer’	5	noun
17	poluchit’ ‘to receive’	3	verb	67	byt’ ‘to be’	1	verb
18	russkij ‘Russian’	2	adjective	68	gazeta ‘newspaper’	3	noun
19	yescho ‘more, else’	2	adverb	69	belyj ‘white’	2	adjective
20	ljuboj ‘any’	2	pronoun	70	vspomnit’ ‘to remember’	2	verb
21	bereg ‘coast, shore’	2	noun	71	khimicheskij ‘chemical’	4	adjective
22	poetomu ‘that is why’	4	pronoun	72	veshch ‘thing’	1	noun
23	kazhdyj ‘every’	2	pronoun	73	pjatnitsa ‘Friday’	3	noun
24	dom ‘house’	1	noun	74	bol’she ‘more’	2	adverb
25	umet’ ‘to be able to’	2	verb	75	chjornyj ‘black’	2	adjective
26	shirokij ‘wide’	3	adjective	76	firma ‘company’	2	noun
27	revoljutsija ‘revolution’	5	noun	77	kriknut’ ‘to shout’	2	verb
28	vkljuchat’ ‘to switch on’	2	verb	78	vsjakij ‘any’	2	pronoun
29	gde ‘where’	1	pronoun	79	vykhodit’ ‘to go out’	3	verb
30	namjoki ‘allusions’	3	noun	80	bjudzhet ‘budget’	2	noun
31	sfera ‘sphere’	2	noun	81	nachalo ‘beginning’	3	noun
32	nastojashchij ‘real’	4	adjective	82	glava ‘head, chapter’	2	noun
33	brat’ ‘to take’	1	verb	83	vsjo ‘everything’	1	adverb
34	tikhij ‘quiet’	2	adjective	84	mjagkij ‘soft’	2	adjective
35	model’ ‘model’	2	noun	85	sjuda ‘here (direction)’	2	adverb
36	khozjain ‘host’	3	noun	86	byvshij ‘former, ex-’	2	adjective
37	vid ‘view’	1	noun	87	znat’ ‘to know’	1	verb
38	pisat’ ‘to write’	2	verb	88	khoroshij ‘good’	3	adjective
39	general ‘general’	3	noun	89	odin ‘one, single’	2	numeral
40	ser’joznyj ‘serious’	3	adjective	90	zhizn’ ‘life’	1	noun
41	zemlja ‘earth, ground’	2	noun	91	shchjoki ‘cheeks’	2	noun
42	nabljudat’ ‘to observe’	3	verb	92	schema ‘scheme’	2	noun
43	luchshij ‘the best’	2	adjective	93	neuzheli ‘really?’	4	particle
44	tsel’ ‘goal’	1	noun	94	fakt ‘fact’	1	noun
45	rebjonok ‘child’	3	noun	95	ljubimyj ‘favourite’	3	adjective
46	ochen’ ‘very’	2	adverb	96	teper’ ‘now’	2	adverb
47	zhit’ ‘to live’	1	verb	97	geroj ‘hero’	2	noun
48	drugoj ‘another’	2	pronoun	98	uvidet’ ‘to see’	3	verb
49	tserkov’ ‘church’	2	noun	99	soobshchit’ ‘to inform’	3	verb
50	den’ ‘day’	1	noun	100	ofitser ‘officer’	3	noun