2014/12/26 by Dinah Baer‐Henney, Frank Kügler, Ruben van de Vijver · 3 citations
Computer Science · Psychology · #Language Development and Disorders #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Speech and dialogue systems
paper · doi:10.1111/cogs.12209
openalex publication_date 2014/12/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Using the artificial language paradigm, we studied the acquisition of morphophonemic alternations with exceptions by 160 German adult learners. We tested the acquisition of two types of alternations in two regularity conditions while additionally varying length of training. In the first alternation, a vowel harmony, backness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix. This process is grounded in substance (phonetic motivation), and this universal phonetic factor bolsters learning a generalization. In the second alternation, tenseness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix vowel. This process is not based in substance, but it reflects a phonotactic property of German and our participants benefit from this language-specific factor. We found that learners use both cues, while substantive bias surfaces mainly in the most unstable situation. We show that language-specific and universal factors interact in learning.