Beyond orthography: a refined perceptual assimilation task paradigm for measuring cross-linguistic phonetic similarity

Jie Yang, Yuehua Chen

To address the limitations of traditional Perceptual Assimilation Task paradigms—specifically their heavy reliance on phonetic notation and metalinguistic knowledge—this study proposes a refined, orthography-independent paradigm. Designed to enhance ecological validity, the new framework uses auditory, syllable-based stimuli to decouple speech perception from orthographic interference. This approach is particularly suited for native Chinese speakers from logographic backgrounds who may lack proficiency in IPA. Applying this paradigm to the perception of Mandarin sibilants by Cantonese speakers, our results corroborate established dialectological observations, demonstrating that participants are sensitive to fine-grained phonetic variation across different vocalic environments. By providing more granular similarity data, this methodology offers a robust, versatile, and generalizable tool for measuring cross-linguistic phonetic similarity across diverse non-alphabetic language contexts and predicting second-language speech acquisition outcomes.