Perceptual learning of plain-ejective contrast

A recent cross-linguistic study finds that the presence of post-burst silence versus aspiration is a primary cue for ejective-plain stop contrast while VOT plays a minor role (Percival, 2024). This study explores whether English listeners can acquire this release cue after a short exposure and distributional training: “natural correlation” or “inhibition” (Kondaurova and Francis, 2010). Target words were created from Q’anjob’al /tu/ and /t’u/, distinguished by both VOT (short versus high) and release (aspiration versus silence). In the exposure phase, listeners heard stimuli along with pseudo-orthographic forms, <tu> or <t*u>. In the training phase, listeners categorized stimuli and were given feedback: the “natural correlation” group (n = 31) was trained on the same stimuli as the exposure phase; for the “inhibition” group (n = 29), only the release cue distinguished the stops and VOT varied from short to long for both stops. The pre-test and post-test, completed before and after the training phase, show that the release cue, already a primary cue prior to training for most listeners, especially with longer VOT, became stronger after training. No group difference was found. The novel release cue likely makes ejectives poor exemplars of English stops, therefore, easy to distinguish from plain stops (Best et al. 2001).