Investigating the Relationship between Speech Production and Perception

The study, based on two theoretical models, i.e. SLM and PAM, consisted of two experiments which were controlled with the computer software E-Prime and assisted by Praat, a software used for analysis, editing and synthesis of sound signals. The first experiment is a production test which examined the first two formants of the vowels in Putonghua produced by the research subjects. The second experiment is a perception test which investigated the categorical perception of the vowels in Putonghua by the participants. The results show that vowel perception partially correlates with that of production.