Perception of American English tense and lax vowels by native speakers of Russian Maria V. Kondaurova and Alexander L. Francis Linguistics Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 Abstract The present study examined the effect of native language background on the perception of American English tense/lax front unrounded vowels ([i] and [I]) by native Russian and native English speakers. In natural speech, these vowels are distinguishable according to both spectral (vowel quality) and temporal (vowel duration) properties. In the present experiment, nineteen native Russian and twelve native American English listeners identified stimuli from beat-bit continua varying in ten perceptually equal (mel) spectral steps and nine equal (ms) duration steps. Result showed that English listeners based their responses predominantly on spectral quality when identifying these vowels, but also showed some reliance on duration cues when spectral properties were ambiguous. In contrast, Russian listeners showed no evidence of attending to vowel quality to differentiate English tense and lax vowels, instead relying entirely on duration properties. The lack of attention to vowel quality could be explained in terms of the assimilation of both English vowels ([i] and [I]) to the same Russian /i/ phoneme in a "single category assimilation" process (Best, 1995). However, this would still not account for Russian listeners' strong reliance on duration. Both language-specific and universal principles could be offered as an explanation of this pattern. From a language-specific perspective, native Russian listeners may be relying on their experience with subphonemic duration contrasts in their native language. For example, vowel duration differences appear to play a role in the three-way lexical stress system of Russian (Bolla, 1981), and acquired sensitivity to these properties could influence Russian listeners' attention to the features of the English vowel system. Alternatively, Bohn's (1995) Desensitization Hypothesis suggests there is a universal tendency for listeners to rely on duration in differentiating non-native vowels if spectral differences are insufficient, regardless of whether or not they have had prior experience with duration-based contrasts in their native language. In this paper we discuss the merits of these two approaches, and propose some methods for differentiating between them. References Best, C.T. (1995). A direct realistic view of cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience. Issues in cross-language research. (pp.171-204). Baltimore: York Press. Bohn, O.-S. (1995). Cross language speech production in adults: First language transfer doesn't tell it all. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research. (pp.279-304). Baltimore: York Press. Bolla, K. (1981). A Conspectus of Russian Speech Sounds. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado. Alexander L. Francis http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~francisa Assistant Professor francisA@purdue.edu Audiology and Speech Sciences ofc. +1 (765) 494-3815 Purdue University lab. +1 (765) 494-7553 500 Oval Drive fax. +1 (765) 494-0771 West Lafayette IN 47907-2038 USA ------------my employer requires the following addendum------------ CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and the documents accompanying this email may contain legally privileged confidential information. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named as recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, reproduction or distribution of this email or its attachments, or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this email or its attachments, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by return email.