PERCEPTION OF SYNTHETIC VOWELS BY MONOLINGUAL CANADIAN-ENGLISH, MEXICAN-SPANISH, AND PENINSULAR-SPANISH LISTENERS

Monolingual-Western-Canadian-English listeners, monolingual-Mexican-Spanish listeners, and monolingual-Peninsular-Spanish listeners classified stimuli from a synthetic vowel continuum which allowed for English /i/, //, /e/, //, and Spanish /i/, /ei/, and /e / responses. The continuum varied systematically in initial formant values, vowel inherent spectral change, and vowel duration. The portion of the stimulus space for which the English listeners ’ modal response was English /i / was identified as Spanish /i / by both groups of Spanish listeners. Three quarters of the portion of the stimulus space for which the English listeners ’ modal response was English / / was identified as Spanish /i / and one-quarter as Spanish /e / by Mexican-Spanish listeners, but almost all of this portion of the stimulus space was identified as Spanish /e / by Peninsular-Spanish listeners. Spanish dialect may therefore have a substantial effect on first-language-Spanish listeners ’ learning of the Western-Canadian-English /i/–/ / contrast. RÉSUMÉ Des auditeurs monolingues de l’anglais canadien de l’ouest, de l’espagnol du Mexique, et de l’espagnol péninsulaire ont identifié des stimuli qui comportaient un continuum de voyelles synthétiques, les choix de réponse étant le /i/, //, /e/, / / de l’anglais, et le /i/, /ei/, et /e / de l’espagnol. Les voyelles sur le continuu