TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie
A1  - Bhatara, Anjali
A1  - Unger, Annika
A1  - Nazzi, Thierry
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Rhythmic grouping biases in simultaneous bilinguals
JF  - Bilingualism : language and cognition
N2  - This study provides a novel approach for testing the universality of perceptual biases by looking at speech processing in simultaneous bilingual adults learning two languages that support the maintenance of this bias to different degrees. Specifically, we investigated the Iambic/Trochaic Law, an assumed universal grouping bias, in simultaneous French-German bilinguals, presenting them with streams of syllables varying in intensity, duration or neither and asking them whether they perceived them as strong-weak or weak-strong groupings. Results showed robust, consistent grouping preferences. A comparison to monolinguals from previous studies revealed that they pattern with German-speaking monolinguals, and differ from French-speaking monolinguals. The distribution of simultaneous bilinguals' individual performance was best explained by a model fitting a unimodal (not bimodal) distribution, failing to support two subgroups of language dominance. Moreover, neither language experience nor language context predicted their performance. These findings suggest a special role for universal biases in simultaneous bilinguals.
KW  - simultaneous bilingualism
KW  - universal bias
KW  - rhythm
KW  - rhythmic grouping
KW  - Iambic
KW  - Trochaic Law
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000140
SN  - 1366-7289
SN  - 1469-1841
VL  - 23
IS  - 5
SP  - 1070
EP  - 1081
PB  - Cambridge Univ. Press
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie
A1  - Bhatara, Anjali
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Effects of musicality on the perception of rhythmic structure in speech
JF  - Laboratory phonology
N2  - Language and music share many rhythmic properties, such as variations in intensity and duration leading to repeating patterns. Perception of rhythmic properties may rely on cognitive networks that are shared between the two domains. If so, then variability in speech rhythm perception may relate to individual differences in musicality. To examine this possibility, the present study focuses on rhythmic grouping, which is assumed to be guided by a domain-general principle, the Iambic/Trochaic law, stating that sounds alternating in intensity are grouped as strong-weak, and sounds alternating in duration are grouped as weak-strong. German listeners completed a grouping task: They heard streams of syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and had to indicate whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong pattern. Moreover, their music perception abilities were measured, and they filled out a questionnaire reporting their productive musical experience. Results showed that better musical rhythm perception - ability was associated with more consistent rhythmic grouping of speech, while melody perception - ability and productive musical experience were not. This suggests shared cognitive procedures in the perception of rhythm in music and speech. Also, the results highlight the relevance of - considering individual differences in musicality when aiming to explain variability in prosody perception.
KW  - Musical ability
KW  - rhythm
KW  - grouping
KW  - Iambic/Trochaic law
KW  - speech
KW  - speech perception
KW  - musicality
KW  - prosody
KW  - domain-general
KW  - German
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5334/labphon.91
SN  - 1868-6346
SN  - 1868-6354
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
PB  - Ubiquity Press
CY  - London
ER  -