Linguistics Colloquium Talk – Bakst & Niziolek

Does schwa have an auditory target? An altered auditory feedback study

Sarah Bakst & Caroline A. Niziolek

University of Wisconsin – Madison

Schwa is cross-linguistically described as having a variable target (e.g. Koopmans-van Beinum 1994). The present study examines whether speakers are sensitive to auditory feedback when producing schwa. When speakers hear themselves producing a version of their speech where formants have been altered, they will change their motor plans on-line so that their altered feedback is a better match to the target (e.g. Houde & Jordan 1998). If schwa has no target, then feedback mismatches may not drive a change in production.