9319597 Beddor ABSTRACT Cross-language data on speech production and perception gathered over the past 25 years show that languages may systematically differ in both coarticulatory patterns and perceptual organization. The central question addressed by this proposal is whether language differences in speech perception are linked to language differences in coarticulatory structure. The specific hypothesis to be tested is that language-specific patterns of coarticulation give rise to listener expectations concerning the acoustic consequences of coarticulation; such expectations in turn lead to language-specific patterns of perceptual accommodation to coarticulated speech. The cross-language acoustic and perceptual data to be collected here are relevant to theoretical issues in speech perception and language acquisition. Current models of speech perception differ in whether the primatives of perception are auditory events or vocal- tract gestures. A finding that compensatory context effects are language-specific (and in turn linked to language-specific coarticulatory patterns) would constrain possible models. It would be argued against a purely auditory source for these effects, but also against articulatory-gesture approaches which propose that the acoustic signal provides sufficient information for the listener to disentangle coarticulatory influences. Developmental models of speech perception are more centrally concerned with the language- specific reorganization of initial perceptual capabilities. Even if the specific hypotheses concerning a coarticulation-perception link are not upheld, the data will broaden knowledge of which perceptual capabilities can be modified through linguistic experience and the nature of the relevant experience. ***
