A model has been computer-implemented which is capable of producing and/or perceiving speech items (sounds, syllables, words, or short utterances). The organization of the model is given in Fig. 1 (see also Kröger et al. 2009a). Its cognitive linguistic module is not modelled in detail in this neurophonetic approach but it can be assumed that this module is subdivided into a procedural and a de...

The acquisition of a non-native phonetic distinction by second-language learners relies on basic sensory and perceptual processes. In the present study we examined whether central capacity limitations in attention and immediate memory affected both metalinguistic awareness of phonemic properties of stimuli and the ease with which listeners could perceptually reorganize native phonemic categorie...

Twenty children with mental retardation (MR), age 7-12, completed a phonological reading skills program over approximately 10 weeks. As a result of the instruction, they were better able to sound out learned and transfer words compared to a control group matched on age, IQ, nonword reading, language comprehension, and phonemic awareness. Final sounding out was predicted by beginning reading ski...

The term nasality refers to the timbre of the nasal phonemes. It is also used to express the quality of sound that characterises some speakers. In this paper, we propose to classify nasality in natural speech into four types: phonemic nasality, nasality in assimilation, incidental nasality in the production of voiced plosives, and nasality associated with speaker individuality. Speech sounds re...

Disproportionately greater deficits in semantic relative to phonemic verbal fluency are seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and have been attributed to neurodegenerative changes in the temporal lobe. Amnestic (AMN) mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often represents incipient AD, is also characterized by early temporal lobe neuropathology, but previous comparisons of verbal fluency between AD ...

We assessed the Gradient Phonemicity Hypothesis by testing whether a duration-based derived contrast in Scottish English can be seen phonemic just as a contrast based on vowel quality. We examined the electrophysiological correlates of the perception of such contrasts in native Scottish and French speakers. Results revealed differences between the two groups, mostly in the perception of duratio...

Phonemic codes are accorded a privileged role in most current models of immediate serial recall, although their effects are apparent in short-term proactive interference (PI) effects as well. The present research looks at how assumptions concerning distributed representation and distributed storage involving both semantic and phonemic codes might be operationalized to produce PI in a short-term...

Phonetic transcriptions are often manually encoded in a pronunciation lexicon. This process is time consuming and requires linguistic expertise. Moreover, it is very difficult to maintain consistency. To handle these problems, we present a model that produces Korean pronunciation variants based on morphophonological analysis. By analyzing phonological variations frequently found in spoken Korea...