Perceptual learning in Hindi-English bilinguals

This study investigates whether perceptual learning (e.g. Norris, McQueen & Cutler 2003; Eisner & McQueen 2005; Kraljic & Samuel 2006, 2007; Kraljic, Samuel & Brennan 2008) has cross-linguistic effects in Hindi-English bilinguals. We hypothesized that perceptual learning in bilingual listeners generalizes across languages to similar phonemes in an untrained language. In particular, this study tested whether perceptual learning generalizes from the English velar stop contrast to stop contrasts at various places of articulation in Hindi (velar, retroflex, and dental stops). Hindi-English bilinguals listened to English words containing ambiguously voiced velar stops. In a subsequent categorization task, the bilinguals showed marginal perceptual learning effects for English velar stops but no effects for any of the tested Hindi stop contrasts. The results suggest that perceptual learning effects in stops are specific to the language of training in bilinguals whose languages differ in their phoneme inventories and/or the phonetic realization of the relevant phoneme contrasts. Adapted from the source document