Dear all,
I am looking for a phonetic contrast which is difficult for English
speakers to perceive, as a control stimulus in a study we are setting up.
We are examining how well English speakers can learn to discriminate
this in comparison to the Hindi dental-retroflex contrast. As you are
probably aware, this contrast is extremely difficult for English
speakers to perceive, but we are struggling to find an equivalently
difficult contrast which is not already contained within the phonology
of Hindi (ruling out aspirated-non aspirated stops, for instance).
We have tried several contrasts, such as Mandarin alveolo-palatal
fricative-affricate contrasts, Tagalog nasal contrasts, tonal contrasts,
but our pilot studies have not found them comparably difficult over
several learning sessions.
Any suggestions gratefully received,
Regards,
Lucy Series
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Lucy Series
Department of Experimental Psychology
Bristol University
12a Priory Road
Bristol
BS8 1TU
Tel: 0117 331 7797
Email: [log in to unmask]
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