Category: Publications

Paper on crosslinguistic speech perception in JPhon

A research article entitled “Perceptual attention as the locus of transfer to nonnative speech perception” (Chang, 2018) has been published in the May issue of Journal of Phonetics. Abstract: One’s native language (L1) is known to influence the development of a nonnative language (L2) at multiple levels, but the nature of L1 transfer to L2 perception remains […]

Paper on perceptual attrition in Language Learning

A research article entitled “Age effects in first language attrition: Speech perception by Korean-English bilinguals” (Ahn, Chang, DeKeyser & Lee-Ellis, 2017) has been published in the September issue of Language Learning. Abstract: This study investigated how bilinguals’ perception of their first language (L1) differs according to age of reduced contact with L1 after immersion in a second […]

Tone aptitude research in Psychology Today

Prof. Chang’s work with Dr. Anita Bowles and Valerie Karuzis on tone aptitude (Bowles, Chang & Karuzis, 2016) was featured on the “Life as a bilingual” blog in Psychology Today: Do Musicians Make Better Language Learners? by Aneta Pavlenko (July 5, 2017)

Paper on tone learning aptitude in Language Learning

A research article entitled “Pitch ability as an aptitude for tone learning” (Bowles, Chang & Karuzis, 2016) has been published in the December issue of Language Learning. Abstract: Tone languages such as Mandarin use voice pitch to signal lexical contrasts, presenting a challenge for second/foreign language (L2) learners whose native languages do not use pitch in this […]

Paper on Mandarin tone in Heritage Language Journal

A research article entitled “Toward an understanding of heritage prosody: Acoustic and perceptual properties of tone produced by heritage, native, and second language speakers of Mandarin” (Chang & Yao, 2016) has been published in the August issue of the Heritage Language Journal. Abstract: In previous work examining heritage language phonology, heritage speakers have often patterned differently from […]

Paper on bilingual perception in Bilingualism

A research article entitled “Bilingual perceptual benefits of experience with a heritage language” (Chang, 2016) has been published in the August issue of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. Abstract: Research on the linguistic knowledge of heritage speakers has been concerned primarily with the advantages conferred by heritage language experience in production, perception, and (re)learning of the heritage language. […]

Paper on bilingualism and sound change in Language

A research article entitled “On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese” (Yao & Chang, 2016) has been published in the June issue of Language, the journal of the Linguistic Society of America. Abstract: This study investigates the source and status of a recent sound change in Shanghainese (Wu, Sinitic) that has […]

Paper on tone learning in JASA

A research article entitled “Context effects on second-language learning of tonal contrasts” (Chang & Bowles, 2015) has been published in the December issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Abstract: Studies of lexical tone learning generally focus on monosyllabic contexts, while reports of phonetic learning benefits associated with input variability are based largely on […]