I can think of two good candidates:
(1) Dutch diphthongs in:
huid "skin" vs. hout "wood"
(2) Ewe bilabial and labio-dental fricatives, as for example in:
(voiceless) Fo "beat" vs. fofó "father"; (voiced) eVe "Ewe" vs. eve
"two"
Bev Collins
Dr B.S. Collins, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics,
Van Wijkplaats 4, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lucy Series" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 1:35 PM
Subject: [SPAM-BA] - Difficult to perceive phonetic contrasts - Bayesian
Filter detected spam
> 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
>
> --
> 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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