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Effect of Language-specific Syllables on Heritage Speakers' Speech Perception: An ERP Study
Poster Session E, Sunday, September 14, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, Field House
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Yu-Hao Chen1, Chia-Hsuan Liao1; 1National Tsing Hua University
The current study investigates whether heritage speakers can use language-specific syllables to identify the surrounding language environment. Previous studies show that metalinguistic cues, such as social interactions, can help bilinguals categorize speech by signaling language contexts. However, the role of more implicit phonological information, such as language-specific speech sounds, remains less understood. Although heritage speakers use their heritage language less frequently, they often retain sensitivity to its phonological contrasts due to early exposure. Previous studies further suggest that proficiency in the heritage language may affect the perception of certain phonemic distinctions. Building on these insights, we ask whether bilinguals with varying proficiency levels in their heritage language can draw on language-specific syllables to distinguish language environments during speech perception. We recruited Mandarin-dominant heritage speakers of Taiwanese in Taiwan, and divided them into two groups, Proficient (N=17) and Inexperienced (N=18), based on their proficiency levels in Taiwanese. The EEG experiment employed a 2x2 design, crossing Language section (Mandarin, Taiwanese) with Participant group (Proficient, Inexperienced). An oddball paradigm was used to elicit the Mismatch Negativity (MMN), a neural marker of early auditory processing that reflects the integration of acoustic and phonological information. In the Mandarin section, the standard was [tɕja] ‘to clip’ (a Mandarin-specific syllable); in the Taiwanese section, it was [kʰja] ‘to ride’ (a Taiwanese-specific syllable). In both sections, the deviant was [jã] ‘to win,’ a nasal-vowel syllable present in Taiwanese but absent in Mandarin, forming a cross-language phonemic contrast in the Mandarin section and a within-language contrast in the Taiwanese section. This design allowed us to test whether participants could implicitly track language environments based on language-specific syllables. If successful, we expect larger or earlier MMN responses in the Mandarin section, where the deviant violates the phonological structure of the dominant language. In contrast, the Taiwanese section, where both syllables were phonologically legal, may elicit a weaker or later MMN. Additionally, if proficiency affects access to heritage phonology, the Inexperienced group may exhibit delayed MMN responses in the Taiwanese section. Each section included 1,032 trials, with 80% Standard and 20% Deviant tokens. To maintain task engagement, participants responded to filler click trials via button press. Preliminary results show earlier MMN responses in the Mandarin section for both groups, suggesting that heritage speakers may use language-specific syllables to identify language contexts. This supports the view that acoustic-phonological integration is more efficient in the dominant language, even without explicit context language cues. Notably, the Inexperienced group showed a delayed MMN response in the Taiwanese section, suggesting that lower proficiency may result in less automatic phonemic processing in the heritage language. Together, these findings highlight a potential role for implicit phonological cues in shaping language-mode sensitivity, and suggest that early exposure alone may not ensure efficient processing; instead, proficiency appears to affect the ability to use phonological cues in real-time.
Topic Areas: Speech Perception,