Catherine T Best
Biographic Data
| ID | 1463765 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Catherine T Best |
| GIVEN NAMES | Catherine T |
| FAMILY NAME | Best |
| SIGNATURE | BEST C T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2447-2024 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 299 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Effects of high accent variability on monolingual English perceivers’ acquisition of Mandarin minimal-tone-contrast words
Natural phonetic variability such as talker differences facilitates second language (L2) word learning. Whether accent variability enhances the talker variability benefit, particularly in the learning of words that differ only in lexical tones, has not yet been examined despite its potential applied value for L2 tone language learning. Two groups of monolingual English speakers completed six training sessions on four minimal-tone quadrads of Mand…
Developmental changes in infants’ amodal phonological abstraction skills and their relationship to early vocabulary
Shaping linguistic input in parent‐infant interactions: The influence of the Infant's temperament
Parent‐infant interactions highlight the role of parental input, considering both the quality, infant‐directed speech, and quantity of interactions, adult words and communicative turns, in these interactions. However, communication is bidirectional, yet little is known about the infant's role in these interactions. This study ( n = 35 4‐month‐old infants) explores how infant‐directed speech, the number of adult words and turn‐taking (both measure…
Intersections for justice: Conceptualizing justice-centered child welfare practice
The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology
Bilingualism and the study of speech sounds are two of the largest areas of inquiry in linguistics. This Handbook sits at the intersection of these fields, providing a comprehensive overview of the most recent, cutting-edge work on the sound systems of adult and child bilinguals. Bringing together contributions from an international team of world-leading experts, it covers all aspects of the speech perception, production and processing of bilingu…
Assessing ultrasound probe stabilization for quantifying speech production contrasts using the Adjustable Laboratory Probe Holder for UltraSound (ALPHUS)
Phonological and phonetic contributions to perception of non-native lexical tones by tone language listeners: Effects of memory load and stimulus variability
The Role of Acoustic Similarity and Non-Native Categorisation in Predicting Non-Native Discrimination: Brazilian Portuguese Vowels by English vs. Spanish Listeners
This study tests whether Australian English (AusE) and European Spanish (ES) listeners differ in their categorisation and discrimination of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels. In particular, we investigate two theoretically relevant measures of vowel category overlap (acoustic vs. perceptual categorisation) as predictors of non-native discrimination difficulty. We also investigate whether the individual listener's own native vowel productions predi…
Evidence for active control of tongue lateralization in Australian English /l
Research on the temporal dynamics of /l/ production has focused primarily on mid-sagittal tongue movements. This study reports how known variations in the timing of mid-sagittal gestures are related to para-sagittal dynamics in /l/ formation in Australian English (AusE), using three-dimensional electromagnetic articulography (3D EMA). The articulatory analyses show (1) consistent with past work, the temporal lag between tongue tip and tongue body…
Bilingual phonology in dichotic perception: A case study of Malayalam and English voicing
Listeners often experience cocktail-party situations, encountering multiple ongoing conversations while tracking just one. Capturing the words spoken under such conditions requires selective attention and processing, which involves using phonetic details to discern phonological structure. How do bilinguals accomplish this in L1-L2 competition? We addressed that question using a dichotic listening task with fluent Malayalam-English bilinguals, in …
Native phonological and phonetic influences in perceptual assimilation of monosyllabic Thai lexical tones by Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners
Optimising refugee children’s health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: A qualitative inquiry
Refugee families face challenges to accessing services, but also have strengths that enable them to optimise their children's wellbeing. Culturally-tailored models of care embedded within GP services and school systems may assist improved healthcare for refugee families
Discrimination of uncategorised non-native vowel contrasts is modulated by perceived overlap with native phonological categories
Non-native vowels perceived as speech-like but not identified with a particular native (L1) vowel are assimilated as uncategorised, and have received very little empirical attention. According to the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best, 1995), contrasts where one or both phones are uncategorised are Uncategorised-Categorised and Uncategorised-Uncategorised, respectively. We reasoned that discrimination accuracy for these assimilations should…
Articulating What Infants Attune to in Native Speech
To become language users, infants must embrace the integrality of speech perception and production. That they do so, and quite rapidly, is implied by the native-language attunement they achieve in each domain by 6-12 months. Yet research has most often addressed one or the other domain, rarely how they interrelate. Moreover, mainstream assumptions that perception relies on acoustic patterns whereas production involves motor patterns entail that t…
Perceptual Assimilation and Discrimination of Non-Native Vowel Contrasts
Research on language-specific tuning in speech perception has focused mainly on consonants, while that on non-native vowel perception has failed to address whether the same principles apply. Therefore, non-native vowel perception was investigated here in light of relevant theoretical models: the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. American-English speakers completed discrimination and native languag…
Articulatory coordination of two vocal tracts
In this paper, we quantify the time-varying coordination of articulator motion for two speakers engaged in two face-to-face speaking tasks: repetition of simultaneously produced words (and word-pairs) and conversation. Correlation map analysis is used to compute the time-varying, correlation between pairs of signals for all possible pairings of signal values. The resulting two-dimensional map of correlation values captures the fluctuations that o…
Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners
Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching
Cross-language Perception of Non-native Tonal Contrasts: Effects of Native Phonological and Phonetic Influences
This study examined the perception of the four Mandarin lexical tones by Mandarin-naïve Hong Kong Cantonese, Japanese, and Canadian English listener groups. Their performance on an identification task, following a brief familiarization task, was analyzed in terms of tonal sensitivities (A-prime scores on correct identifications) and tonal errors (confusions). The A-prime results revealed that the English listeners’ sensitivity to Tone 4 identific…
Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals' productions in both L1 and L2
Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organization
Laboratory Phonology 8
Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities
Language experience systematically constrains perception of speech contrasts that deviate phonologically and/or phonetically from those of the listener’s native language. These effects are most dramatic in adults, but begin to emerge in infancy and undergo further development through at least early childhood. The central question addressed here is: How do nonnative speech perception findings bear on phonological and phonetic aspects of second lan…
Effects of phonological and phonetic factors on cross-language perception of approximants
Identification and discrimination of Mandarin Chinese tones by Mandarin Chinese vs. French listeners
Cross-language Perception of Non-native Tonal Contrasts: Effects of Native Phonological and Phonetic Influences
This study examined the perception of the four Mandarin lexical tones by Mandarin-naïve Hong Kong Cantonese, Japanese, and Canadian English listener groups. Their performance on an identification task, following a brief familiarization task, was analyzed in terms of tonal sensitivities (A-prime scores on correct identifications) and tonal errors (confusions). The A-prime results revealed that the English listeners’ sensitivity to Tone 4 identific…
Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching
Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode
Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals' productions in both L1 and L2
Phonetic vs. phonological influences on French listeners' perception of American English approximants
Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners
A cardiac measure of cerebral asymmetries in infant auditory perception
The utility of cardiac habituation/response recovery as a method for assessing infant cerebra! asymmetries in auditory perception on a dichotic listening test was studied. In a within-subjects design 12 3-month-old infants were given a series of four 10 trial tests during which their cardiac responses were habituated to a pair of dichotic speech syllables or music notes. The 10th trial in each test was a test trial on which one ear received its h…
Lexical effects in the perception and production of American English /p/ allophones
Discrimination of uncategorised non-native vowel contrasts is modulated by perceived overlap with native phonological categories
Non-native vowels perceived as speech-like but not identified with a particular native (L1) vowel are assimilated as uncategorised, and have received very little empirical attention. According to the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM: Best, 1995), contrasts where one or both phones are uncategorised are Uncategorised-Categorised and Uncategorised-Uncategorised, respectively. We reasoned that discrimination accuracy for these assimilations should…
Native phonological and phonetic influences in perceptual assimilation of monosyllabic Thai lexical tones by Mandarin and Vietnamese listeners
Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organization
The Role of Acoustic Similarity and Non-Native Categorisation in Predicting Non-Native Discrimination: Brazilian Portuguese Vowels by English vs. Spanish Listeners
This study tests whether Australian English (AusE) and European Spanish (ES) listeners differ in their categorisation and discrimination of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels. In particular, we investigate two theoretically relevant measures of vowel category overlap (acoustic vs. perceptual categorisation) as predictors of non-native discrimination difficulty. We also investigate whether the individual listener's own native vowel productions predi…
Articulatory coordination of two vocal tracts
In this paper, we quantify the time-varying coordination of articulator motion for two speakers engaged in two face-to-face speaking tasks: repetition of simultaneously produced words (and word-pairs) and conversation. Correlation map analysis is used to compute the time-varying, correlation between pairs of signals for all possible pairings of signal values. The resulting two-dimensional map of correlation values captures the fluctuations that o…
Phonological and phonetic contributions to perception of non-native lexical tones by tone language listeners: Effects of memory load and stimulus variability
Evidence for active control of tongue lateralization in Australian English /l
Research on the temporal dynamics of /l/ production has focused primarily on mid-sagittal tongue movements. This study reports how known variations in the timing of mid-sagittal gestures are related to para-sagittal dynamics in /l/ formation in Australian English (AusE), using three-dimensional electromagnetic articulography (3D EMA). The articulatory analyses show (1) consistent with past work, the temporal lag between tongue tip and tongue body…
Baby, it's in your smile: Right hemiface bias in infant emotional expressions
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Visual Influences on Perception of Speech and Nonspeech Vocal-Tract Events
We report four experiments designed to determine whether visual information affects judgments of acoustically-specified nonspeech events as well as speech events (the “McGurk effect”). Previous findings have shown only weak McGurk effects for nonspeech stimuli, whereas strong effects are found for consonants. We used click sounds that serve as consonants in some African languages, but that are perceived as nonspeech by American English listeners.…
Anomalous bimanual coordination among dyslexic boys
Dyslexia has been associated with lc•bemisphere dysfunctions; however, recent studies also suggest interhemispheric difficulties. To test his, we assessed bimanual coordination i dyslexic and nondis-abled boys using an Etch-a-Sketch-like task. Group performance was equivalent for parallel hand movements (both clockwise). However, the dyslexics howed significant impairments on mirror movements, particularly in their left hands, and often unknowing…
A cardiac measure of cerebral asymmetries in infant auditory perception
The utility of cardiac habituation/response recovery as a method for assessing infant cerebra! asymmetries in auditory perception on a dichotic listening test was studied. In a within-subjects design 12 3-month-old infants were given a series of four 10 trial tests during which their cardiac responses were habituated to a pair of dichotic speech syllables or music notes. The 10th trial in each test was a test trial on which one ear received its h…
Categorical perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese bilinguals
Categorical perception of a synthetic /r/-/l/ continuum was investigated with Japanese bilinguals at two levels of English language experience. The inexperienced Japanese group, referred to as Not-experienced, had had little or no previous training in English conversation. The Experienced Japanese group had had intensive training in English conversation by native American-English speakers. The tasks used were absolute identification, AXB discrimi…
Examination of perceptual reorganization for nonnative speech contrasts: Zulu click discrimination by English-speaking adults and infants.
Baby, it's in your smile: Right hemiface bias in infant emotional expressions
Anomalous bimanual coordination among dyslexic boys
Dyslexia has been associated with lc•bemisphere dysfunctions; however, recent studies also suggest interhemispheric difficulties. To test his, we assessed bimanual coordination i dyslexic and nondis-abled boys using an Etch-a-Sketch-like task. Group performance was equivalent for parallel hand movements (both clockwise). However, the dyslexics howed significant impairments on mirror movements, particularly in their left hands, and often unknowing…
Effects of phonological and phonetic factors on cross-language perception of approximants
Accommodation in mean f 0 during mother–infant and father–infant vocal interactions: A longitudinal case study
Reports that infants imitate the vocal pitch characteristics of adult caregivers (e.g. Lewis, 1936/1951) include Lieberman's (1967; Lieberman, Ryalls & Rabson, 1982) claim that infants differentially adjust their vocal pitch or fundamental frequency (f 0 ) towards that of their caregivers, resulting in higher mean pitch when interacting with mothers than when interacting with fathers. However, a recent cross-sectional study of infants at ages 0;8…
Lexical effects in the perception and production of American English /p/ allophones
Phonetic vs. phonological influences on French listeners' perception of American English approximants
Discrimination of non-native consonant contrasts varying in perceptual assimilation to the listener’s native phonological system
Classic non-native speech perception findings suggested that adults have difficulty discriminating segmental distinctions that are not employed contrastively in their own language. However, recent reports indicate a gradient of performance across non-native contrasts, ranging from near-chance to near-ceiling. Current theoretical models argue that such variations reflect systematic effects of experience with phonetic properties of native speech. T…
Infants' Listening Preferences: Baby Talk or Happy Talk
The most robust finding on infants' listening preferences has been widely characterized as a preference for baby talk (BT) over adult‐directed speech (ADS). Although prosodic modifications characteristic of BT also convey positive affect, differences in affect across BT and ADS speech registers have not been controlled in previous studies. This set of experiments sought to elucidate the basis for 6‐month‐olds' listening preference by independentl…
Peeling back the layers of time: Integrating Speech Perception on the Scales of Stimulus Time, Experiential Time, and Developmental Time
Identification and discrimination of Mandarin Chinese tones by Mandarin Chinese vs. French listeners
Visual Influences on Perception of Speech and Nonspeech Vocal-Tract Events
We report four experiments designed to determine whether visual information affects judgments of acoustically-specified nonspeech events as well as speech events (the “McGurk effect”). Previous findings have shown only weak McGurk effects for nonspeech stimuli, whereas strong effects are found for consonants. We used click sounds that serve as consonants in some African languages, but that are perceived as nonspeech by American English listeners.…
Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities
Language experience systematically constrains perception of speech contrasts that deviate phonologically and/or phonetically from those of the listener’s native language. These effects are most dramatic in adults, but begin to emerge in infancy and undergo further development through at least early childhood. The central question addressed here is: How do nonnative speech perception findings bear on phonological and phonetic aspects of second lan…
Laboratory Phonology 8
Cross-language Perception of Non-native Tonal Contrasts: Effects of Native Phonological and Phonetic Influences
This study examined the perception of the four Mandarin lexical tones by Mandarin-naïve Hong Kong Cantonese, Japanese, and Canadian English listener groups. Their performance on an identification task, following a brief familiarization task, was analyzed in terms of tonal sensitivities (A-prime scores on correct identifications) and tonal errors (confusions). The A-prime results revealed that the English listeners’ sensitivity to Tone 4 identific…
Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals' productions in both L1 and L2
Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organization
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching
Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners
Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode
Perceptual Assimilation and Discrimination of Non-Native Vowel Contrasts
Research on language-specific tuning in speech perception has focused mainly on consonants, while that on non-native vowel perception has failed to address whether the same principles apply. Therefore, non-native vowel perception was investigated here in light of relevant theoretical models: the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. American-English speakers completed discrimination and native languag…
Articulatory coordination of two vocal tracts
In this paper, we quantify the time-varying coordination of articulator motion for two speakers engaged in two face-to-face speaking tasks: repetition of simultaneously produced words (and word-pairs) and conversation. Correlation map analysis is used to compute the time-varying, correlation between pairs of signals for all possible pairings of signal values. The resulting two-dimensional map of correlation values captures the fluctuations that o…
Psychology (35 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (30 works) · Linguistics (26 works) · Perception (23 works) · Computer Science (22 works) · Speech recognition (17 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (16 works) · Vowel (12 works) · Speech perception (11 works) · Cognitive psychology (10 works)