Effects of Linguistic Labels on Non-native Speech Sound Learning

Linguistic labels play a privileged role in semantic and object category learning in humans (Lupyan et al., 2007), even as young as 3 months of age (Ferry et al., 2010). However, researchers have not yet compared the effects of linguistic and nonlinguistic labels in the domain of phonetic category learning. Building on theories about the influence of language on categorical perception, this study will utilize a non-native speech sound categorization training and AX discrimination pretest and posttest to elucidate the effects of linguistic and nonlinguistic labels on speech sound discrimination. The study’s findings will have implications for the larger debate with competing predictions surrounding the influence of language on perception and cognition.