Ivan Andreu Rascón

This study examined how variability in phonetic training input (high vs. low) influences the perception and acquisition of Spanish stop consonants by English-speaking beginners. A total of 128 participants completed 20 online identification sessions targeting /p, t, k, b, d, g/. In the high-variability condition (HVPT), learners heard tokens from six speakers, and in the low-variability condition (LVPT), all input came from a single speaker. Training followed an interleaved-talker design with immediate feedback, and perceptual learning was evaluated using a Bayesian hierarchical logistic regression analysis. Results showed improvement across sessions for both groups, with identification accuracy reaching ceiling by the end of the training sessions. Differences between HVPT and LVPT were small: LVPT showed steeper categorization trajectories in some cases due to slightly lower baselines, but neither condition yielded a measurable advantage. The pattern observed suggests that for boundary-shift contrasts such as Spanish stops, perceptual improvements are driven primarily by input quantity rather than variability. This interpretation aligns with input-based models of L2 speech learning (SLM-r, L2LP) and underscores the role of repeated exposure in restructuring phonological categories.

This study examined how variability in phonetic training input (high vs. low) influences the perception and acquisition of Spanish stop consonants by English-speaking beginners. A total of 128 participants completed 20 online identification sessions targeting /p, t, k, b, d, g/. In the high-variability condition (HVPT), learners heard tokens from six speakers, and in the low-variability condition (LVPT), all input came from a single speaker. Training followed an interleaved-talker design with immediate feedback, and perceptual learning was evaluated using a Bayesian hierarchical logistic regression analysis. Results showed improvement across sessions for both groups, with identification accuracy reaching ceiling by the end of the training sessions. Differences between HVPT and LVPT were small: LVPT showed steeper categorization trajectories in some cases due to slightly lower baselines, but neither condition yielded a measurable advantage. The pattern observed suggests that for boundary-shift contrasts such as Spanish stops, perceptual improvements are driven primarily by input quantity rather than variability. This interpretation aligns with input-based models of L2 speech learning (SLM-r, L2LP) and underscores the role of repeated exposure in restructuring phonological categories.

Communication is a core human capacity that enables the exchange of ideas, emotions, and experiences. Its success relies on the ability to perceive, interpret, and produce linguistically meaningful sounds.Second language (L2) acquisition is a multifaceted process shaped by cognitive, perceptual, and social variables. A persistent challenge for L2 learners involves the recognition and production of sounds that, although present in the first language (L1), differ in their phonetic realization and/or functional distribution. These difficulties are often exacerbated by limited exposure to the target language and the absence of explicit, informative feedback.One approach that has gained prominence in educational contexts---particularly with the integration of technology---is High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT). Current research suggests that this method can be highly effective. Training learners with a broader array of pronunciations and diversifying the language samples they encounter helps promote a more generalized and adaptable categorization of sounds. This wider spectrum of input has been shown to support the transfer of newly acquired skills across different contexts, ultimately enhancing overall communicative competence.The present dissertation first assesses the effectiveness of HVPT over the more traditional Low Variability Phonetic Training (LVPT) in the L2 acquisition of Spanish stop consonants.It then examines how the formation of new phonetic categories contributes to the realignment or shift of perceptual boundaries in the perception of stop consonants. Lastly, this work investigates how the development of novel phonetic categories can influence the production of stop consonants in both the L2 and the L1. The results indicate that phonetic training improved participants�� ability to identify and categorize Spanish stop voicing. While both the HVPT and LVPT groups showed perceptual gains, no significant differences emerged between the two in the perception task. In contrast, production outcomes revealed that HVPT resulted in more target-like realizations of Spanish stops than LVPT, although both training types proved effective.Notably, training also impacted L1 production: English voiceless stops exhibited reduced aspiration, indicating a subtle but measurable shift toward Spanish-like VOT values��evidence of phonetic drift.Taken together, these findings support the effectiveness of phonetic training in promoting the formation of novel phonetic categories and provide insights for models of L2 phonological acquisition and the perception�Cproduction relationship in second language learning.

In recent years, numerous fields of research have seen a push for increased reproducibility and transparency. As a result, specific transparency practices have emerged, such as open access publishing, preregistration, sharing data, analyses, and code, performing study replications, and declaring positionality and conflicts of interest. While many agree that open science practices represent a positive step forward in improving scientific rigor, these practices, by and large, have not been adopted in the field of linguistics (Bochynska et al. 2023. Reproducible research practices and transparency across linguistics. Glossa Psycholinguistics 2(1). 1–36). Few, if any, researchers have had explicit instruction on the practices of open science as part of their professional training. Nonetheless, today’s speech researcher is expected to be up to date on the current protocols of open science in order to incorporate the methodological practices aimed at improving reproducibility/replicability. The present work intends to help make open science practices understandable and accessible to researchers in linguistics from all backgrounds and at every stage, from students/early career researchers to senior researchers and advisors. We outline eight specific open science practices that linguists can adopt to make their research more open, transparent, inclusive, and accessible to a wider audience. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Humans segment speech naturally based on the transitional probabilities between linguistic elements. For bilingual speakers navigating between a first (L1) and a second language (L2), L1 knowledge can influence their perception, leading to transfer effects based on phonological similarities or differences. Specifically, in Spanish, resyllabification occurs when consonants at the end of a syllable or word boundary are repositioned as the onset of the subsequent syllable. While the process can lead to ambiguities in perception, current academic discussions debate the duration of canonical and resyllabified productions. However, the role of bilingualism in the visual perception of syllable and word segmentation remains unknown to date. The present study explores the use of bilingual skills in the perception of articulatory movements and visual cues in speech perception, addressing the gap in the literature regarding the visibility of syllable pauses in lipreading. The participants in this study, 80 native Spanish speakers and 195 L2 learners, were subjected to audio, visual-only, and audiovisual conditions to assess their segmentation accuracy. The results indicated that both groups could segment speech effectively, with audiovisual cues providing the most significant benefit. Native speakers performed more consistently, while proficiency influenced L2 learners' accuracy. The results show that aural syllabic segmentation is acquired at early stages of proficiency, while visual syllabic segmentation is acquired at higher levels of proficiency.

The present study investigates the interplay between proficiency and empathy in the development of second language (L2) prosody by analyzing the perception and processing of intonation in questions and statements in L2 Spanish. A total of 225 adult L2 Spanish learners (L1 English) from the Northeastern United States completed a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task in which they listened to four utterance types and categorized them as either questions or statements. We used Bayesian multilevel regression and drift diffusion modeling to analyze the 2AFC data as a function of proficiency level and empathy scores for each utterance type. We show that learner response accuracy and sensitivity to intonation are positively correlated with proficiency, and this association is affected by individual empathy levels in both response accuracy and sentence processing. Higher empathic individuals, in comparison with lower empathic individuals, appear to be more sensitive to intonation cues in the process of forming sound-meaning associations, though increased sensitivity does not necessarily imply increased processing speed. The results motivate the inclusion of measures of pragmatic skill, such as empathy, to better account for intonational meaning processing and sentence comprehension in second language acquisition. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.