Maïonchi-Pino, N. 1 , Takahashi, K. 1 , Yokoyama, S. 1 , Écalle, J. 2 , Magnan, A. 2 & Kawashima, R. 1
1 Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer - Smart Ageing International Research Center - Functional Brain Imaging - Tohoku University - Japan
2 Laboratory of Cognitive Mechanism Studies - Institute of Psychology - Lyon University - France
We present results from a cross-linguistic comparison between native French- and Japanese-speaking adults which aimed at examining whether phonological knowledge on linguistic restrictions in speech perception is universal. We used two syllable counting tasks within pseudowords. In Experiment 1, we manipulated onset cluster sonority profiles to compare 15 French adults to 15 Japanese adults. Our results evidence that listeners from both languages systematically misperceive universal phonotactically-illegal (marked) onsets as phonotactically-legal ones (unmarked; /rpal/ misperceived as /rəpal/). Phonological repairs decreased as onset phonotactic legality increased (/rpal/ > /klal/) in both languages. In Experiment 2, we manipulated intervocalic cluster sonority profiles within syllable boundaries to compare 15 French listeners to 15 Japanese listeners. Of interest is that we highlight a reversed pattern following the universal markedness within syllable boundaries. French and Japanese adults misperceive intervocalic clusters disrespecting optimal syllable contact (/afmal/ misperceived as /afəmal/). Here, phonological repairs decreased as intervocalic clusters came to respect the optimal syllable contact (/aklal/ > /arpal/). Ours is a significant contribution demonstrating that listeners exhibit universal phonological knowledge on phonotactic restrictions both in languages that have (French) or do not have (Japanese) clusters. In both experiments native acoustic-phonetic properties have no straightforward influence on phonological repairs.