This paper reports the results of an experimental study on non-native production of English vowels. Two groups of Persian EFL learners varying in language proficiency were tested on their ability to produce the nine plain vowels of American English. Vowel production accuracy was assessed by means of acoustic measurements. Ladefoged and Maddison’s (1996) F1 F2 measurements for American English v...

We examine occurrences of categorical assimilation (neutralizations) in French, the perception of voiced and unvoiced word-final obstruents in different phonological contexts. We first show the categorical nature of the alternation (Exp. 1), supported in Exp. 2 by perceptual categorization data. In Exp. 3, the interpretation of this first percept appears to be corrected in certain contexts, ind...

Predicting the quality of water and air is a particular challenge for forecasting systems that support them. In order to represent the small-scale phenomena, a high-resolution model needs accurate capture of air and sea circulations, significant for forecasting environmental pollution. Data assimilation is one of the state of the art methods to be used for this purpose. Due to the importance of...

In fluent speech, the acoustic realisation of a single word is dependent on the context due to connected speech processes. One of these processes is place assimilation, due to which, for instance, the Dutch word /tFyn/ (‘garden’) may be pronounced as [tFym] in the composite /tFynbank/ (‘garden bench’). Gaskell and MarslenWilson (e.g., 1998) proposed that there is a mechanism that filters out th...

Chromatic assimilation is a shift toward the color of nearby light. Several studies conclude that a neural process contributes to assimilation but the neural locus remains in question. Some studies posit a peripheral process, such as retinal receptive-field organization, while others claim the neural mechanism follows depth perception, figure/ground segregation, or perceptual grouping. The expe...

This study tests the ability of a group of Salento Italian undergraduate students that have been exposed to L2 in a scholastic context to perceive British English second language (L2) vowel phonemes. The aim is to verify if the Perceptual Assimilation Model could be applied to them. In order to test their ability to perceive L2 phonemes, subjects have executed an identification and an oddity di...

Predicting the quality of water and air is a particular challenge for forecasting systems that support them. In order to represent the small-scale phenomena, a high-resolution model needs accurate capture of air and sea circulations, significant for forecasting environmental pollution. Data assimilation is one of the state of the art methods to be used for this purpose. Due to the importance of...