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Production Learning of Non-Native Speech Contrasts after Training in Perception or Production
Melissa Baese-Berk, Zoë Haupt, Zachary Jaggers, Arthur Samuel, Tillena Trebon, Maggie Wallace, and Allegra Wesson

Previous work has found that simultaneous training of a non-native sound distinction in both perception and production can disrupt rather than enhance perceptual learning. In spite of this disruption, subjects trained in both modalities have shown gains in learning to produce the distinction they were trained on, compared to perception-only training. The current study examines the learning of a new sound distinction in production for participants in a variety of training conditions. Spanish native speakers are trained on a novel contrast. Given that learners’ productions of the contrast may not be identical to the way native speakers distinguish it, we apply Linear Discriminant Analysis to acoustic measurements of subjects’ post-test productions to classify whether and how they do distinguish the categories in a potentially multidimensional space. This classification model is then applied across conditions to compare production learning across training modes and examine how production learning relates to perceptual learning.