Submitted by Cristiane Chim (cristiane.chim@ucpel.edu.br) on 2018-07-16T12:23:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Motta Avila.pdf: 5908666 bytes, checksum: fec1aaf83edeb30b980911d427091061 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-16T12:23:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Motta Avila.pdf: 5908666 bytes, checksum: fec1aaf83edeb30b980911d427091061 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES# / #2075167498588264571# / #600 / This Master’s Dissertation had as its main goal analyzing and formalizing how Brazilian learners of English language (L2) and Americans identify and discriminate the voicing patterns for plosive consonants under artificial manipulation in English monossilabic words. Americans normally follow the acoustic cue Voice Onset Time (VOT) to differentiate voiced plosives from voiceless ones. The VOT is measured in milisseconds and can be classified into three different categories (LISKER & ABRAMSON, 1964): negative VOT (for /b/, /d/ and /g/ in Portuguese); short-lag VOT (for /p/, /t/, /k/ in Portuguese and /b/, /d/, /g/ in English) and long-lag or positive VOT (for [ph], [th], [kh] in English). Previous studies (ALVES, BARATZ e MOTTA, 2012; SCHWARTZHAUPT, ALVES &FONTES, 2015; ALVES & MOTTA, 2014; MOTTA, 2014; ALVES & ZIMMER, 2015) demonstrated that the manipulation of VOT can result into different types of perceptual behaviour, depending on the group analyzed: Americans tend to follow this cue to attribute voicing patterns to consonants, while Brazilians tend to follow the voicing patters stablished for their L1. In order to analyze the perception in L2, this Dissertation was based on Speech Learning Model (SLM) – (FLEGE, 1995) and Perceptual Assimilation Model – L2 (PAM-L2) – (BEST e TYLER, 2007) studies. To investigate how perception was processed in Americans, explanations in Kent and Read (2015), Gussenhoven and Jacobs (2004), Matzenauer (2015) and Boersma, Escudero and Hayes (2003) were found. The method consisted of two perceptual tests: (a) Identification Test, (b) Discrimination Test. Both tests were designed with artificially manipulated stimuli. The types (pee, pit, tick, tip, kit, kill) were CVC (where V was a high vowel /ɪ/ or /i/). Each one of them was multiply manipulated, generating five tokens from one original type. This manipulation was gradually performed, in 25% layers, aiming to achieve the zero artificial VOT pattern. The Identification Test was designed with 60 target words and 12 distractors, resulting in 72 tokens per participant. The Discrimination Test was designed with 36 target trials and 9 catch-trials, in a total of 45 trials per participant. To summarize, results show that Americans can be considered to be more perceptually sensitive to the multiple VOT manipulation than Brazilians, who normally tend to follow their L1 way of attributing voicing patterns to plosives, regardless their proficiency level in English (basic, intermediate or advanced). In addition, different phonetic tresholds were found in each analyzed group and in each place of articulation observed (bilabial, alveolar, velar). Finally, this study tries to offer a formalization for perceptual grammars in each group, based on Bi-directional Phonology OT Model (BiPhon). It is expected that this study, its detailed data description and theoretical observations can contribute to and makefurther academic studies possible. / Esta Dissertação de Mestrado teve como principal objetivo analisar e formalizar de que forma brasileiros aprendizes de inglês (L2) e americanos identificam e discriminam o vozeamento das consoantes plosivas iniciais da língua inglesa sob múltiplas manipulações em palavras monossilábicas. Na língua inglesa, para a diferenciação de vozeamento, tem-se como principal pista acústica a aspiração, que pode ser medida a partir dos valores de Voice Onset Time (VOT). O VOT é medido em milissegundos e pode ser classificado em 3 diferentes padrões (LISKER & ABRAMSON, 1964): VOT NEGATIVO (que se realiza foneticamente em português em /b/, /d/ e /g/); VOT ZERO, (que se realiza como /p/, /t/ e /k/ no português e /b/, /d/ e /g/ no inglês) e o VOT POSITIVO (encontrado em [ph], [th] e [kh] no inglês). Estudos anteriores (ALVES, BARATZ e MOTTA, 2012; SCHWARTZHAUPT, ALVES &FONTES, 2015; ALVES & MOTTA, 2014; MOTTA, 2014; ALVES & ZIMMER, 2015) demonstraram que a manipulação da pista acústica VOT resulta em comportamentos perceptuais diferenciados de acordo com a natureza do participante: americanos tendem a seguir a pista acústica em questão ao atribuir ou não vozeamento para as consoantes plosivas, ao passo que os brasileiros continuam a seguir os padrões de vozeamento previstos para a sua L1. Para dar conta da percepção em inglês como L2, este trabalho fundamentou-se, basicamente, nos modelos perceptuais Speech Learning Model (SLM) – (FLEGE, 1995) e Perceptual Assimilation Model – L2 (PAM-L2) – (BEST e TYLER, 2007). Para analisar a percepção dos participantes americanos, buscaram-se explicações em Kent e Read (2015), Gussenhoven e Jacobs (2004), Matzenauer (2015) e Boersma, Escudero e Hayes (2003). O método aplicado neste estudo consistiu em dois testes de percepção: (a) Teste de Identificação, (b) Teste de Discriminação. Ambos foram montados com estímulos de palavras monossilábicas da língua inglesa (CVC), sendo V /ɪ/ ou /i/. Cada type (pee, pit, tick, tip, kit, kill) passou por manipulação múltipla da pista acústica VOT, gerando 5 tokens cada um. Tal manipulação se deu de forma gradual em camadas de 25%, objetivando-se alcançar o padrão de VOT zero artificial. O design do Teste de Identificação contou com 60 palavras-alvo e 12 distratoras, somando um total de 72 tokens por participante. O design do Teste de Discriminação, que teve por objetivo contrastar diferentes camadas de VOT entre si, contou com 36 tríades do tipo AxB e 9 catch-trials, somando 45 tríades por participante. Sucintamente, os resultados apresentados demonstraram que os participantes americanos são mais sensíveis ao corte da pista acústica VOT do que os participantes brasileiros, independentemente do nível de proficiência em língua inglesa (básico, intermediário e avançado). Além disso, limiares fonéticos distintos foram encontrados em cada um dos grupos analisados e em cada ponto de articulação observado (bilabial, alveolar, velar). Finalmente, propôs-se uma formalização da percepção de ambos os grupos para cada consoante analisada baseando-se no Modelo de OT Bidirecional (BiPhon), proposto por Boersma (2009) e Boersma e Hamman (2011). Espera-se, com este estudo, que a descrição detalhada dos dados e a reflexão teórica possam contribuir à Academia e possibilitar estudos futuros.

For this study, two groups of native Icelandic speakers were compared in terms of the acoustic properties of their English pronunciation of two phonetic phenomena, plosives and pre-aspiration. In English, plosives with the same manner and place of articulation are distinguished by means of a voicing contrast, whereas in Icelandic, plosives are distinguished by means of an aspiration contrast. This study examines whether participants exhibit interlanguage features in their plosive contrasts in English, substituting unaspirated voiceless plosives for voiced counterparts. Furthermore, this study looks at pre-aspiration, a phonetic feature of Icelandic, characterized by glottal friction following a short vowel preceding a fortis plosive (VhC). Pre-aspiration is not a feature of standard English varieties such as general American (GA) or received pronunciation (RP), and as such this study examines whether participants retain pre-aspiration in their English pronunciation or not. Participants numbered 16 in total, and were all L1 speakers of Icelandic, with eight in each group, four male and four female. The groups were divided by means of age differences, with the first group consisting of participants aged 20-26, and the second group of participants aged 44-50. Participants were asked to partake in a short informal interview, to read a short written passage, and to read a word list. The interview and readings were recorded and analysed using spectrograms and waveforms, and subsequently compared with English and Icelandic reference values for voice onset time (VOT), which vary between the two languages, and pre-aspiration duration in Icelandic. The two groups were also compared to determine whether there were any lingering differences between them. The conclusions drawn are that VOT in English and Icelandic may be more similar than assumed, and that participants shorten pre-aspiration duration or neutralize pre-aspiration when speaking English. However, the English production of the features are more similar to Icelandic than English. Furthermore, the results do not indicate any differences between the two age groups in terms of English pronunciation.

<p>While pronunciation has previously been described as a neglected skill in the second language classroom, a growing body of literature has demonstrated that pronunciation training improves students’ productions (Derwing & Munro, 2005). Mispronunciations have been shown to impact comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness (Derwing & Munro, 2009). As pronunciation instruction methods have begun to be the subject of empirical research, Visual Feedback (VF) has begun to emerge as a novel method for teaching pronunciation. This method has been shown to be particularly effective for teaching voice onset time (VOT), a characteristic of voiceless stop consonants (e.g., /p, t, k/). Worth noting, English and Spanish differ concerning VOT, with English employing long VOTs (30-100ms) and Spanish short VOTs (0-30ms) (Lisker & Abramson’s, 1964). Previous research has focused exclusively on employing VF for shortening VOT, although there are some compelling reasons to question whether the size and nature of the effect would be similar for lengthening VOT. The present study examines the potential effectiveness of VF as a means of lengthening the VOT of Spanish learners of English.</p> <p>The participants of the study were twenty-six students from a large Colombian university. The experiment design consisted of a pretest, three VF interventions, a posttest, and a delayed posttest. The tests were composed of two tasks, differing in their complexity: recording words in isolation and words in utterances. Stimuli consisted of English words (n= 4266) with word-initial voiceless stops (/p, t, k/). Stimuli were controlled for stress, following vowel, and word familiarity  and were measured for VOT using Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2022).</p> <p>Results from statistical analysis coupled with a visual inspection of the data indicated that the experimental group performed similarly in the three stages of the study and that the visual feedback paradigm did not result in changes in VOT. However, some degree of variation was found among the participants concerning their average VOTs. While some participants showed an overall increase (i.e., improvement) in English VOTs for the three phonemes /p/, /t/, and /k/ over time, other participants did not. In general, most of the participants produced English-like VOTs in the pretest, constituting a degree of ceiling effects. The rate of exposure to the target language and the saliency of English are factors that could have played a role in the development of the VOT scores of the participants before the study. Therefore, the discussion focuses on both the nature of the individual variability and the theoretical implications of ceiling effects found in the current study versus the lack of ceiling effects in other studies with similar populations.</p>