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Author Cutler, Anne

Title Native listening : language experience and the recognition of spoken words / Anne Cutler
Published Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2012
©2012

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Listening and native language -- What is spoken language like? -- Words : how they are recognized -- Words : how they are extracted from speech -- Words : how impossible ones are ruled out -- What is spoken language like? Part 2 : the fine structure of speech -- Prosody -- Where does language-specificity begin? -- Second-language listening : sounds to words -- Second-language listening : words in their speech contexts -- The plasticity of adult speech perception -- Conclusion : the architecture of a native listening system
Summary An argument that the way we listen to speech is shaped by our experience with our native language. Understanding speech in our native tongue seems natural and effortless; listening to speech in a nonnative language is a different experience. In this book, Anne Cutler argues that listening to speech is a process of native listening because so much of it is exquisitely tailored to the requirements of the native language. Her cross-linguistic study (drawing on experimental work in languages that range from English and Dutch to Chinese and Japanese) documents what is universal and what is language specific in the way we listen to spoken language. Cutler describes the formidable range of mental tasks we carry out, all at once, with astonishing speed and accuracy, when we listen. These include evaluating probabilities arising from the structure of the native vocabulary, tracking information to locate the boundaries between words, paying attention to the way the words are pronounced, and assessing not only the sounds of speech but prosodic information that spans sequences of sounds. She describes infant speech perception, the consequences of language-specific specialization for listening to other languages, the flexibility and adaptability of listening (to our native languages), and how language-specificity and universality fit together in our language processing system. Drawing on her four decades of work as a psycholinguist, Cutler documents the recent growth in our knowledge about how spoken-word recognition works and the role of language structure in this process. Her book is a significant contribution to a vibrant and rapidly developing field
Analysis LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE/General
COGNITIVE SCIENCES/General
COGNITIVE SCIENCES/Psychology/Cognitive Psychology
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Speech perception.
Listening.
Language and languages -- Variation.
Speech processing systems
Linguistic models.
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Linguistics -- Psycholinguistics.
Language and languages -- Variation
Linguistic models
Listening
Speech perception
Speech processing systems
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2011045431
ISBN 9780262305457
0262305453
0262527510
9780262527514
1283550075
9781283550079
9786613862525
6613862525