Multilingual Cocktail Party Effect: The Influence of Language Proficiency on Informational Masking of Speech by Speech

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Koktel party efekt s višejezičnim govornicima: Utjecaj razine jezičnog znanja na maskiranje govorom
• Author: Amrita Bocek
• Mentor: Nikolaj Lazić (mentor)
• Mentor: Stela Letica Krevelj (komentor)
• Committee member: Elenmari Pletikos Olof (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Stela Letica Krevelj (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Nikolaj Lazić (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Phonetics); Zagreb
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2023-02-27, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Interdisciplinary Humanistic Studies

Abstract

This study inspects the connection between the level of proficiency in the masker language and the level of intelligibility in cocktail party effect in multilingual listeners. Croatian, English, and German maskers were used in two-talker, three-talker, and four-talker conditions. The goal was to show that the knowledge of the language of the masker posits effects of informational masking (IM) which lowers the level of intelligibility for the target signal. The results are in line with the results of previous studies that have shown that informational masking is greater when the target and masker languages are matched. No significant correlation was found between the reported language proficiency and success on the listening test for either of the languages. Same amounts of EM and IM were reported. Effects of IM such as misallocation were most commonly from L1, followed by L2 and L3. However, most of the errors made were phonetic in nature, with mistakes such as reporting a wrong member of a group of phonemes articulated in the same manner or wrong member of a voiced/voiceless consonant pair.

Abstract (croatian)

Ovaj rad istražuje povezanost između razine znanja jezika maske i razine razumljivosti signala u višejezičnih govornika pri fenomenu koktel party efekta. Hrvatski, engleski i njemački jezici maskirali su engleski signal u stimulusu s dva, tri i četiri različita i/ili ista govornika. Cilj je bio pokazati da znanje jezika maske podrazumijeva informacijsko maskiranje (IM) tim jezikom i samim time nižu razinu razumljivosti ciljnog signala. Rezultati su u skladu s rezultatima prijašnjih istraživanja koja su pokazala da je informacijsko maskiranje veće ako su signal i maska na istom jeziku. Značajna korelacija između znanja jezika prijavljenog u anketi i uspjeha na slušnom testu nije ustanovljena. Zabilježene su jednake razine informacijskog i energetskog maskiranja. Najveći broj zabilježenog IM-a je iz materinjeg jezika (hrvatski), zatim iz drugog (engleski) i trećeg (njemački) stranog jezika. No najveći broj grešaka je fonetski u prirodi, npr. krivi član skupine fonema koji se artikuliraju na isti način ili krivi član zvučno-bezvučnog parnjaka.

• Keywords: cocktail party effect; masking; multilingualism; trilingualism
• Keywords (english): koktel party efekt; maskiranje; višejezičnost; trojezičnost
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:025343
• Study programme: Title: Phonetics (double major); specializations in: Clinical Phonetics, Rhetoric, General Phonetics, Rhetoric and General Phonetics; Course: General Phonetics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra fonetike (magistar/magistra fonetike)
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: TEFL; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Access restricted to students and staff of home institution
• Created on: 2023-03-06 08:56:16