Jeremy Steffman
Biographic Data
| ID | 86571 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeremy Steffman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeremy |
| FAMILY NAME | Steffman |
| SIGNATURE | STEFFMAN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3675-910X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Information Structural Expectations in the Perception of Prosodically Modulated Cues
This study examines how expectations for prosodic prominence, as related to information structure, influence speech perception in line with how segmental cues are modulated by prosodic prominence in so-called “prominence strengthening” in production. Following the general methodology of a previous study, which elicited listeners’ explicit judgements of prominence, listeners heard target sentences that were preceded by contexts that set up the cri…
Disentangling prominence strengthening
Does perceptual learning for segmental phonotactics generalize across talkers
In this study we present a set of experiments testing the conditions under which listeners generalize perceptual learning for biphone phonotactics across talkers. Listeners were exposed to skewed CV biphone distributions at the endpoints of a phonetic VOT continuum with more ambiguous steps having an unbiased (flat) distribution. We first replicated previous findings that listeners generalized learning from biasing contexts to perceive the higher…
Community language exposure affects voice onset time patterns in Spanish-English bilingual children and functional English monolingual children
This study examined English VOT productions by 37 Spanish-English bilingual children and 37 matched functional monolinguals, all aged 3–6 years, from the same Latinx community. It also assessed the bilinguals’ Spanish stop productions and investigated the effects of age and language exposure on their VOT productions. The results revealed credible between-group differences on English voiced, but not voiceless, stops, with shorter VOTs for bilingua…
Interactions between tone and voice quality in San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec modal and rearticulated vowels
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec (henceforth SSM), also known as Tò’on Ndà’vi, is a language of the Mixtecan family, Otomanguean stock. SSM has lexical tones that are orthogonal to rearticulation on vowels. The aim of this production study is to examine both long modal and rearticulated vowels to gain insight into the SSM tonal system, contrastive voice quality, and any potential interactions between voice quality and f0. Rearticulated vowels are d…
Metrical enhancement in American English nuclear tunes
We present two experiments aimed at testing the nature of intonational categories through the lens of enhancement. In an imitative speech production paradigm, speakers heard a model intonational tune and were prompted to reproduce that tune on a new sentence in which the syllable count of the word carrying the tune varied. Using the prevalent auto-segmental metrical model of American English as a basis for potential tune categories, we test how d…
Disentangling the Role of Biphone Probability From Neighborhood Density in the Perception of Nonwords
In six experiments we explored how biphone probability and lexical neighborhood density influence listeners’ categorization of vowels embedded in nonword sequences. We found independent effects of each. Listeners shifted categorization of a phonetic continuum to create a higher probability sequence, even when neighborhood density was controlled. Similarly, listeners shifted categorization to create a nonword from a denser neighborhood, even when …
A minimal dynamical model of Intonation
Intonational categories and continua in American English rising nuclear tunes
The present study tests a prediction from the prevalent Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) model of American English intonation: the existence of distinct phonological contrasts among nuclear tunes composed of a pitch accent (here H*, L+H*, L*+H), phrase accent (H-, L-) and boundary tone (H%, L%), which in combination yield an inventory of 12 tonally distinct nuclear tunes. Using an imitative speech production paradigm and AX discrimination task with L1…
Voiced aspirates with mixed voicing in Yemba, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon
Using electroglottography and acoustic measures, we characterize the strength and quality of voicing in voiced aspirated and unaspirated consonants (stops, fricatives, and approximants) in Yemba (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon). We show that the Yemba voiced aspirates exhibit mixed voicing : modal voicing during the consonant constriction, but voiceless aspiration after release. Breathy or whispery phonation extends slightly into consonant constrict…
Stop voicing perception in the societal and heritage language of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec (SSM) (ISO:mks), also known as Tò'on Ndà'vi, is a language of the Mixtecan family, Otomanguean stock (Rensch 1976). The Mixtecan language family consists of Mixtec, Cuicatec and Trique, though Mixtec and Cuicatec are part of the same subgroup, also called Mixtecan (Josserand 1983: 99-101). SSM is part of the Mixteca Baja region of Oaxaca (Josserand 1983: 107). San Sebastián del Monte is a town in the Santo Domingo T…
Prosodic phrasing mediates listeners' perception of temporal cues
Intonational Structure Influences Perception of Contrastive Vowel Length
Recent research has proposed that listeners use prosodic information to guide their processing of phonemic contrasts. Given that prosodic organization of the speech signal systematically modulates durational patterns (e.g., accentual lengthening and phrase-final (PF) lengthening), listeners’ perception of durational contrasts has been argued to be influenced by prosodic factors. For example, given that sounds are generally lengthened preceding a …
Intonational structure mediates speech rate normalization in the perception of segmental categories
A minimal dynamical model of Intonation
Intonational structure mediates speech rate normalization in the perception of segmental categories
Intonational categories and continua in American English rising nuclear tunes
The present study tests a prediction from the prevalent Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) model of American English intonation: the existence of distinct phonological contrasts among nuclear tunes composed of a pitch accent (here H*, L+H*, L*+H), phrase accent (H-, L-) and boundary tone (H%, L%), which in combination yield an inventory of 12 tonally distinct nuclear tunes. Using an imitative speech production paradigm and AX discrimination task with L1…
Prosodic phrasing mediates listeners' perception of temporal cues
Intonational structure mediates speech rate normalization in the perception of segmental categories
Intonational Structure Influences Perception of Contrastive Vowel Length
Recent research has proposed that listeners use prosodic information to guide their processing of phonemic contrasts. Given that prosodic organization of the speech signal systematically modulates durational patterns (e.g., accentual lengthening and phrase-final (PF) lengthening), listeners’ perception of durational contrasts has been argued to be influenced by prosodic factors. For example, given that sounds are generally lengthened preceding a …
Prosodic phrasing mediates listeners' perception of temporal cues
Voiced aspirates with mixed voicing in Yemba, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon
Using electroglottography and acoustic measures, we characterize the strength and quality of voicing in voiced aspirated and unaspirated consonants (stops, fricatives, and approximants) in Yemba (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon). We show that the Yemba voiced aspirates exhibit mixed voicing : modal voicing during the consonant constriction, but voiceless aspiration after release. Breathy or whispery phonation extends slightly into consonant constrict…
Stop voicing perception in the societal and heritage language of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec (SSM) (ISO:mks), also known as Tò'on Ndà'vi, is a language of the Mixtecan family, Otomanguean stock (Rensch 1976). The Mixtecan language family consists of Mixtec, Cuicatec and Trique, though Mixtec and Cuicatec are part of the same subgroup, also called Mixtecan (Josserand 1983: 99-101). SSM is part of the Mixteca Baja region of Oaxaca (Josserand 1983: 107). San Sebastián del Monte is a town in the Santo Domingo T…
Metrical enhancement in American English nuclear tunes
We present two experiments aimed at testing the nature of intonational categories through the lens of enhancement. In an imitative speech production paradigm, speakers heard a model intonational tune and were prompted to reproduce that tune on a new sentence in which the syllable count of the word carrying the tune varied. Using the prevalent auto-segmental metrical model of American English as a basis for potential tune categories, we test how d…
Disentangling the Role of Biphone Probability From Neighborhood Density in the Perception of Nonwords
In six experiments we explored how biphone probability and lexical neighborhood density influence listeners’ categorization of vowels embedded in nonword sequences. We found independent effects of each. Listeners shifted categorization of a phonetic continuum to create a higher probability sequence, even when neighborhood density was controlled. Similarly, listeners shifted categorization to create a nonword from a denser neighborhood, even when …
A minimal dynamical model of Intonation
Intonational categories and continua in American English rising nuclear tunes
The present study tests a prediction from the prevalent Autosegmental-Metrical (AM) model of American English intonation: the existence of distinct phonological contrasts among nuclear tunes composed of a pitch accent (here H*, L+H*, L*+H), phrase accent (H-, L-) and boundary tone (H%, L%), which in combination yield an inventory of 12 tonally distinct nuclear tunes. Using an imitative speech production paradigm and AX discrimination task with L1…
Community language exposure affects voice onset time patterns in Spanish-English bilingual children and functional English monolingual children
This study examined English VOT productions by 37 Spanish-English bilingual children and 37 matched functional monolinguals, all aged 3–6 years, from the same Latinx community. It also assessed the bilinguals’ Spanish stop productions and investigated the effects of age and language exposure on their VOT productions. The results revealed credible between-group differences on English voiced, but not voiceless, stops, with shorter VOTs for bilingua…
Interactions between tone and voice quality in San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec modal and rearticulated vowels
San Sebastián del Monte Mixtec (henceforth SSM), also known as Tò’on Ndà’vi, is a language of the Mixtecan family, Otomanguean stock. SSM has lexical tones that are orthogonal to rearticulation on vowels. The aim of this production study is to examine both long modal and rearticulated vowels to gain insight into the SSM tonal system, contrastive voice quality, and any potential interactions between voice quality and f0. Rearticulated vowels are d…
Information Structural Expectations in the Perception of Prosodically Modulated Cues
This study examines how expectations for prosodic prominence, as related to information structure, influence speech perception in line with how segmental cues are modulated by prosodic prominence in so-called “prominence strengthening” in production. Following the general methodology of a previous study, which elicited listeners’ explicit judgements of prominence, listeners heard target sentences that were preceded by contexts that set up the cri…
Disentangling prominence strengthening
Does perceptual learning for segmental phonotactics generalize across talkers
In this study we present a set of experiments testing the conditions under which listeners generalize perceptual learning for biphone phonotactics across talkers. Listeners were exposed to skewed CV biphone distributions at the endpoints of a phonetic VOT continuum with more ambiguous steps having an unbiased (flat) distribution. We first replicated previous findings that listeners generalized learning from biasing contexts to perceive the higher…
Phonetics and Phonology Research (14 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Perception (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Speech recognition (7 works) · Vowel (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (5 works)