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  -