The reflex theory of speech perception.

Abstract

The perceptual confusions among Chinese consonants are analyzed and a comparative study is made for several languages, and then a reflex theory is presented. The results show that: (i) the distinctive features of speech are important perceptual cues, of which the manner of articulation is the more important one, (ii) the feature systems are different for different languages, (iii) the social characteristics of language i.e., linguistic constructions, strongly influence speech perception which is of a unitary process based on the physical characteristics in combination with the social characteristics of speech. The principal features of Chinese consonants and its capability to transmit information are given. It is shown that the construction of Chinese syllables is good for the syllable articulation.