Issues in listening

Question 1

The linearity issue?

Answer 1

The spoken signal does not consist of a string of phonemes and can blend into each other. There is no precise point a sound could end.

Question 2

The non-invariance issue?

Answer 2

There us no such thing as an unvarying ‘pure’ example of /k/ etc. in connected speech as sounds are influenced by the previous one.

Question 3

The normalisation issue?

Answer 3

Every speaker has a distinctive voice

Question 4

The accommodation issue?

Answer 4

The speaker often adopts a short cut and adjusts the first sounds to the second. For example ‘green paint’ /grim peint/. This could cause confusion for listeners.

Question 5

The lexical segmentation issue?

Answer 5

There are no consistent gaps between words in speech as there is in writing, meaning that we have to work out when a word ends.

Question 6

The storage issue?

Answer 6

Readers can look back on words where as listeners are reliant on their own mental recollection of the utterance so far.

Question 7

Liberman and his colleagues (1967) (dealing with non-variance)

Answer 7

Motor theory suggested that we are able to interpret sounds we hear in connected speech by relating them to the muscular movements we make when producing them. The possibility was raised that listening might be associated with a degree of sub-vocalisation, with the listener forming silent articulatory settings to match the sounds they have heard before.

Question 8

Massaro and Cohen (1983) (ba and da)

Answer 8

They played /ba/ and /da/ to audiences. Audiences interpreted the sounds using lip movement, for example when they speaker said /da/ but their lips signalled /ba/.