Doctoral Dissertation Research: Features and Syllables in Phonotactic Models

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate how syllable structure and phonotactic sequencing constraints affect speech perception in Nepali. Word initial and word final consonant clusters are not allowed in Nepali. As a result, when borrowing words from other languages, Nepali speakers often break up clusters by inserting vowels. For example, they pronounce the English word 'slip' as 'silip'. Earlier research has found that Nepali speakers find it difficult to distinguish between consonant clusters at word boundaries and the same clusters broken up by vowels. In other words, 'slip' and 'silip' tend to be indistinguishable to Nepali speakers. This suggests that these language-specific phonotactic constraints cause Nepali listeners to perceive nonexistent vowels at word boundaries. This research investigates whether similar phenomenon can be observed word internally. A perceptual experiment will be conducted to test the hypothesis that monolingual Nepali speakers also find it difficult to distinguish between consonant clusters word internally and the same clusters broken up by vowels. If the results of the experiment support this hypothesis, then such perceptual confusion would indicate that consonant clusters at word-internal syllable boundaries, like the ones at word boundaries, affect the speech perception of Nepali speakers. Since Nepali is an understudied language, this research promises to shed new light on the role of syllable structure and phonotactic sequencing constraints on speech perception. Additionally, this research can inform phonotactic learning models by identifying a distinct role for syllable structure. Broader impacts of the proposed research include introducing underprivileged Nepali high school students to linguistic and psychological sciences.