English Native vs. Non-Native Peak & Total Percentages Comparison &

Summary

In this section we now consider the magnitude of recognition, or peak percentage, for each group for each item. The peak is considered important because it indicates that there was some cue made available in the signal at that precise point which led to a peak number of subjects’ first correct recognition. Tables XVIII and XIX provide summaries of the native and non-native, that is American and Catalan, peak percentage and gate for each item. In the first column of the tables, the lexical items are listed. In Table XVIII, the American peak percentage follows for each item, as well as the gate at which the peak occurred and the phonetic information available at that gate. Next, it is noted whether or not the beginning of the next word was available in the acoustic signal at the peak point of recognition (‘yes’ or ‘no’). A plus symbol (+) indicates that the onset of the following word occurred within the same gate as the peak percentage. The group total is again provided for quick comparison with the peak.

Table XVIII. Summary of magnitude and gate of the American peak, whether or not the beginning of the next word was available in the test sentence at the peak gate, and total percentages.

Item AM peak Gate Beg.Nxt.Wrd Group Ttl

IS 58% 1 [] no 100%

YOUR 33% 2 [r] no 92%

FRIEND 25% 5 [fe] no 92%

THE 33% 7 [n(w)] yes+ 92%

ONE 50% 8 [w] no 92%

THAT 83% 10 [n] no 92%

CAN'T 42% 15 [kæ] yes 83%

GO 33% 17 [be] yes 67%

TO 33% 17 [be] yes 67%

BED 67% 17 [be] no 100%

BY 92% 19 [bat] yes+ 100%

TEN? 33%-33% 21-22 [te] no next word 100%

CH. 3.2 ENGLISH RESULTS SUMMARY 106 Table XVIII presents the data for native speakers only. As column 2 indicates, any given peak represents recognition by at least one quarter of the group, 25%.

American peaks were highest for BY, 92%, THAT, 83%, and BED, 67%. American recognition peaks were lowest for FRIEND, 25%, YOUR, THE, GO, TO, and for TEN, 33% each. Peaks were low for TEN only because TEN showed two high points of recognition of 33% each. In general, at the highest point of group recognition for each item, natives did not need to hear the onset of the next word in the signal in order to recognize an item (column 4), indicating that native recognition in this case is likely not sequential, of the type exemplified by Altmann, The ram roamed around, (1997). Items where this is not the case can be accounted for. For the series CAN’T GO TO, the peaks occurred relatively late, when the next word or words are made available, see column 3, as this proved to be a challenging and rather ambiguous sequence. For THE and BY, the peaks were found at the same gate as the onset of the following word. This could be due in part to the length of each gate, which was somewhat long, 80ms, and not due to the fact that natives needed to hear the onset of ONE and TEN in order to recognize these items. Lastly, final percentages for Americans range from 67%-100%.

Totals were highest for IS and BED-TEN, 100% each; totals were lowest for GO and TO, 67%.

Table XIX now presents the data for Catalans. In Table XIX extra columns provide comparisons between the Catalan and American results. Following the Catalan peak percentage, column 2, the next column indicates whether or not the non-native peak was lower than the native peak (‘yes’ or ‘no’) or if it was the same as the native peak (‘=’). An asterisk in this column denotes a significant difference. Following the gate at which the Catalan peak occurred, column 4, it is noted whether or not the Catalan peak occurred later than the American peak (‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘=’), that is, whether

CH. 3.2 ENGLISH RESULTS SUMMARY 107 or not non-natives took longer to make a peak percent of identification. Finally in the last column, whether or not the non-native total is lower than the native total percentage (‘yes’ or ‘no’) is indicated.

Table XIX. Summary of magnitude and gate of the Catalan peak, whether or not the beginning of the next word was available in the test sentence at the peak gate, and total percentages.

Item CAT peak

Table XIX indicates that Catalans peaks are, in general, not as high as native peaks. Catalan peaks were highest for BY, 92%, and TEN, 50%, two unreduced items.

Catalan peaks were lowest for GO and TO, which showed 0% recognition, as well as FRIEND, which yielded two peak gates of 17% each, in addition to THE, CAN’T and BED, which showed 17%. The non-native peak percentage was lower than the native peak percentage in 10 of 12 cases, four of these were significant (THAT, GO, TO, and BED). For BY, the peaks were equal, 92%, and for TEN the Catalan peak was actually higher, as Americans showed two high peaks for this item, 33% each.

In terms of the location of the peak percentage, Catalan peaks occurred at a later gate than the American peak for 8 of 12 lexical items. For IS, and then later with BED and BY, the peaks for both groups occurred at the same gates. For CAN’T, the Catalan group’s peak (totaling one speaker only) actually took place two gates earlier.

CH. 3.2 ENGLISH RESULTS SUMMARY 108 As regards whether the onset of the following word had been introduced in the acoustic signal at the time of the Catalan peak, comparison of Tables XVIII (column 4) and XIX (column 6) shows that the beginning of the next word was available in more cases for Catalans than for Americans. For natives, the peak falls after the onset of the succeeding item in only 3 of 12 cases; for non-natives, this is true in 6 of 12 cases (not including cases where the peaks were found at the same gate as the introduction of the onset of the following word). From this data we can not conclude that Catalan recognition was decisively sequential; however, it was more sequential than American recognition in this case.

Finally, concerning the total percentages for each lexical item, Table XIX shows that the Catalan totals show a much wider range, 0%-100%, than do American totals.

Catalan totals were highest for BY and TEN, 100% and 92% respectively; totals were lowest for GO and TO, 0%—the same two items which prompted the lowest totals for natives as well. In comparison to the native group, non-natives showed a lower total for 11 of 12 lexical items, as mentioned. For BY, the cumulative totals for the two groups were equal.

To summarize, we have seen support from the data in this section that non-native recognition takes longer than non-native recognition. The non-non-native peak occurred later than the native peak for two-thirds of the items, and, for most items, the non-native peak was lower than the native peak. Concurrent with taking longer, non-natives need to hear the onset of the following word to make a lexical identification in twice as many cases as natives do. Lastly, non-native percent totals were lower than native percent totals for almost all test items.

CH. 3.3 ENGLISH FINAL LEXICAL SELECTION 109