Paper on The Phonemes /b/ and /p/

Upon birth, children possess perceptual systems with various sound discrimination in English and many other languages. During infancy, the perception commences with the concentration on certain sets of sounds. These sounds are often close and contrastive phonemes. They usually define from a child's native language. For example, children born to parents who are native English speakers will cling to the phonology of /b/ and /p/ as contrastive phonemes. They will subsequently demonstrate the difficulty and contrast in the pronunciation of words like "bet" and "pet." The sound variations among children when pronouncing these terms is consequently dependent on the notable differences in the air burst from their mouths when they speak them. The degree of these air bursts differs and shapes from a child's native language. For instance, a stronger aspiration or airburst displays on /p/ among English children when pronouncing the word "pet" than on /b/ when pronouncing the word "bet." The paper, therefore, discusses the production, perception, reading, and writing of the phonemes /b/ and /p/.

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The phonemes /b/ and /p/ bear phonologies are usually subtle in their differences. These sound variations tend to relay diverse meanings regarding their dramatic features. The phoneme /b/ tends to have voiced phonology, whereas the phoneme /p/ sounds from the puffed air burst from the mouth during pronunciation, which makes /b/ pronounce with a less air burst as compared to /p/ (Nagle, 2018). The latter feature between these phonemes proves useful in distinguishing them since it is quite tough to sense or feel the vibration of the vocal cords when pronouncing the sound of phoneme /b/ (Nagle, 2018). Thus, these play as the primary features that convey the distinction between the two phonemes.

The developmental trajectory regarding the perception of differences between the phonemes /b/ and /p/ reveals in a couple of ways. However, the above distinction primarily pegs to the speaker's native language and origin (Nagle, 2018). For instance, the sounds of phonemes /b/ and /p/ in the pronunciation of the words like "bat" and "pat" differ in phonology among a 6-month old English-learning infant, a one-year-old English-learning infant, a 6-month old Korean-learning infant, a one-year-old Korean-learning infant, a monolingual Korean-speaking adult, as well as a monolingual English-speaking adult. In the above scenario, the distinction between the phonology of /b/ and /p/ would be best revealed by a monolingual English-speaking adult.

The different predictions regarding the pronunciations and phonologies of the phonemes /b/ and /p/ pegs to the factors of age and language. The reason being is that, like the others, these phonemes are the basic building blocks of spoken language since their attuning among children shapes from their parents' native language during their early stages of life (Sundara et al., 2018). Though, the sensitivity concerning the phonology of phonemes and the distinctions between them tends not to be conscious (Sundara et al., 2018). It deeply embeds in the language system's machinery that is sub-attentional. Therefore, according to the 1983's Werker and Tees experimental outcomes; when a comparison between English adults, English infants, and Korean Adults happens, the infants portray speech discrimination of the sounds of the phonemes /b/ and /p/ following the phonetic group with no prior experience on any specific language (Sundara et al., 2018). The phonology predictions between the above parties differ based on the native language and age.

The prediction regarding the perception of adult Korean speakers following their phonologies of /b/ and /p/ when pronouncing the terms PUSAN and BUSAN tends to be negligible as per the nation's matters of native language and age. The pronunciation of sounds when saying these two phonemes among Koreans tend to relay the same dramatic meaning. As a result, the words PUSAN and BUSAN can apply in meaning the same thing, which is a city in the scenario.

The above predictions and their associated perceptions may somewhat coincide with the 1967's language hypothesis of Lenneberg. According to the hypothesis, there is an assertion that in case an individual reaches their puberty stage of maturity without learning a language, they will not be able to learn it in a sense or manner that is functional and normal (Muñoz et al., 2018). Lenneberg backs up the 1959's Penfield's and Robert's proposal following the mechanisms of neurology that necessitates the change in maturity regarding the abilities to learn a new language (Huang, 2017). The similarity is that an individual master the correct phonology of the phonemes /b/ and /p/ and many others based on their age and the native language with which they matured.

In Scotty McCreey's clip, the word "in between" comes after "somewhere." Most individuals tend to hear the second sound as /n/ rather than as /m/ when pronouncing the term "in between" because of the lexical access model abilities that they possess. The ability initiates due to the selection stage or aspect of the Cohort Model in lexical access as it permits "activation and selection" or "recognition and competition" of words upon their entrance in an individual's ears (Fink et al., 2018). The cohort model in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics belongs to the lexical retrieval whose proposition was first launched towards the end of the 1980s by William Marsden-Wilson (Fink et al., 2018). It tries to demonstrate how auditory and visual input maps onto any word in the listener's lexicon.

Dyslexia is a condition that affects a person's normal abilities to write or read words properly, though they might still know their intended pronunciation or spelling. It is, therefore, a learning difference that bases on the learning of a language as it hinders the skills of word spelling and reading as it usually associates with the reversal of letters (Soares et al., 2019). As such, an English-speaking adult who suffers from it would not confuse the letters b and d as is popularly known, although they might still alter their pronouncing in words for one another while reading. The reason being is that the victims only suffers from the ability to separate a word into its sound component, or phonological processing, and the lack of accuracy in mapping the sounds to letters (Soares et al., 2019). Thus people with dyslexia may know the right spelling to a word but still mispronounce it.

The dual-route reading-aloud theory launched its description at the beginning of the 1970s (Sheriston et al., 2016). It suggested that two diverse cognitive routes, or mental mechanisms, play a part in loud reading, with the results of both these mechanisms playing a role in pronouncing a written word or a stimulus (Sheriston et al., 2016). Subsequently, an English speaker reads the name of the Korean City BUSAN correctly despite never having heard it before since his cognitive routes and mental mechanisms are normal enough to allow it.

Also, the pronunciation problems of the phonemes /b/ and /p/ remain popular among the Korean people. There is the likelihood that the same problem consequently extends to surface dyslexic citizens of Korea. No wonder the pronunciation of the Korean City is under permission and seems alright when done in two different ways; BUSAN or PUSAN. In essence, the cognitive routes and mental mechanisms of Koreans permit only similar phonology for the phonemes /b/ and /p/. On the other hand, a Korean with Surface dyslexia may pronounce a Korean word "bam," meaning chestnut, as "pam" despite knowing the real spelling.

Still, on the Korean pattern of reading behavior, it contradicts the proper phonologies of the phonemes /b/ and /p/, and consequently, the dual-route model of reading aloud. Since Korea is an Asian nation, and like China, many of its words begin with the phonemes /b/ and /p/. Thus, most of the words of these two nations tend to incorporate these two phonemes in their words culturally, yet they do not conform to the reading model of the dual-route. Hence Koreans end up compromising and confusing the true sounds of /b/ and /p/ for one another, to the extent of treating them similarly in phonology but different in writing.

Conclusion

Generally, the phonologies of various phonemes vary from every part of the world. The variance necessitates due to a people's culture, an individual's age, or even their native language. Different sounds can also manifest among individuals to the extent of near-perfection depending on their cognitive routes and mental mechanisms, as described by the dual-route model of reading. The same can also be under the influence of the factors of foreign learning and interaction.

References

Fink, A., Oppenheim, G. M., & Goldrick, M. (2018). Interactions between lexical access and articulation. Language, cognition, and neuroscience, 33(1), 12-24.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23273798.2017.1348529

Huang, H. (2017, November). Critical Thinking of Ongoing Arguments about" the younger, the better" Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition. In 2nd International Conference on Humanities Science and Society Development (ICHSSD 2017). Atlantis Press. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/ichssd-17/25888751

Muñoz, C., Singleton, D., & Aronin, L. (2018). Age and multilingualism. Twelve lectures in multilingualism. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 213-230. https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/553934#page=234

Nagle, C. (2018). Perception, production, and perception-production: Research findings and implications for language pedagogy. Contact Magazine. http://contact.teslontario.org/perception-production/

Sheriston, L., Critten, S., & Jones, E. (2016). Routes to Reading and Spelling: Testing the Predictions of DualRoute Theory. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(4), 403-417. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rrq.143

Soares, A. P., Lages, A., Oliveira, H., & Hernandez, J. (2019). The mirror reflects more for d than for b: Right asymmetry bias on the visual recognition of words containing reversal letters. Journal of experimental child psychology, 182, 18-37. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022096518304624

Sundara, M., Ngon, C., Skoruppa, K., Feldman, N. H., Onario, G. M., Morgan, J. L., & Peperkamp, S. (2018). Young infants' discrimination of subtle phonetic contrasts. Cognition, 178, 57-66. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001002771830129X