Speaker: Jian-Leat Siah (UCLA)
Title: How Language Experience Reshapes the P-Map: The Case of Final Nasalization in Serudung Murut
Time: , 5pm – 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831
Abstract: In this talk, I present my dissertation research testing Steriade (2001/2008)’s P-Map hypothesis, which posits that learners are biased toward alternations that minimize perceptual deviations between input and output forms. In the case of word-final voiced obstruents, the P-Map predicts that final devoicing should be the uniquely preferred repair strategy cross-linguistically. Experimental results from American English listeners in a perceptual AXB task support this prediction. However, results from Serudung Murut (Austronesian) listeners, whose phonological grammar employs (laryngo-)nasalization to avoid voiced stops in word-final position, demonstrate that the perceptual biases posited by the P-Map are not immutable but can be reshaped through exposure to alternations that contradict the P-Map rankings. This synchronic restructuring of the P-Map is especially evident among speakers with advanced proficiency, highlighting the role of language experience in phonological learning.