Professor Catherine Best

Professor Catherine Best

CHAIR IN PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH,
The MARCS Institute

Personal

Qualifications

  • PhD Michigan State University (USA)
  • MA Michigan State University (USA)
  • MA Wesleyan University Middleton Conneticut

UWS Organisational Unit (School / Division)

  • The MARCS Institute

Contact

Email:C.Best@uws.edu.au
Extension:6760
Mobile:0432248682
Location:1.G.131
Bankstown
Website:

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Publications

Books

  • Best, C., Bradlow, A., Guion, S. and Polka, L. (2011), 'Speech perception and varieties of linguistic experience. Special issue of Journal of Phonetics', : .
  • Goldstein, L., Whalen, D. and Best, C. (2006), 'Laboratory Phonology 8: Varieties of Phonological Competence', : Mouton De Gruyter 9783110176780.

Chapters in Books

  • Best, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Accent on language development: using dialects to trace how children come to recognise spoken words', Psychology: 3rd Australian and New Zealand Edition, Wiley 9781742166445.
  • Best, C., Best, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Accent on language development : using dialects to trace how children come to recognise spoken words', Psychology, John Wiley & Sons Australia 9781742166445.
  • Faber, A., Di Paolo, M. and Best, C. (2010), 'The peripatetic history of Middle English */E/', Reader in Sociophonetics, Mouton de Gruyter 1934078050.
  • Avesani, C., Vayra, M., Best, C. and Bohn, O. (2008), 'Fonologia e acquisizione linguistica (How does native language experience come to shape speech perception?)', Processi Fonetici e Categorie Fonologiche Nell'Acquisizione Dell'Italiano (Phonological acquisiton and phonological theories), Pacini Editore 9788863150568.
  • Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2007), 'Nonnative and second-language speech perception', Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning: In honor of James Emil Flege, John Benjamins 9027219737.
  • Goldstein, L., Whalen, D. and Best, C. (2006), 'Introduction', Laboratory Phonology 8, Mouton de Gruyter 9783110176780.

Journal Articles

  • Bohn, O. and Best, C. (2012), 'Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners', Journal of Phonetics, 20.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Kroos, C., Harvey, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Vowel acoustics reliably differentiate three coronal stops of Wubuy across prosodic contexts', Laboratory Phonology, 29.
  • Antoniou, M., Tyler, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode?', Journal of Phonetics, 13.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Kroos, C. and Tyler, M. (2012), 'Second language learners' vocabulary expansion is associated with improved second language vowel intelligibility', Applied Psycholinguistics, 22.
  • Vayra, M., Avesani, C., Best, C. and Bohn, O. (2012), 'Non solo dettagli fonetici, non solo categorie fonologiche: l'interazione tra fonetica e fonologia nella percezione di suoni non-nativi', Studi E Saggi Linguistici, 28.
  • Bohn, O. and Best, C. (2012), 'Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners', Journal of Phonetics, 20.
  • Antoniou, M., Tyler, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Two ways to listen : do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode?', Journal of Phonetics, 13.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Kroos, C., Harvey, M. and Best, C. (2012), 'Vowel acoustics reliably differentiate three coronal stops of Wubuy across prosodic contexts', Laboratory Phonology, 29.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Kroos, C. and Tyler, M. (2012), 'Second language learners' vocabulary expansion is associated with improved second language vowel intelligibility', Applied Psycholinguistics, 22.
  • Vayra, M., Avesani, C., Best, C. and Bohn, O. (2012), 'Non solo dettagli fonetici, non solo categorie fonologiche : l'interazione tra fonetica e fonologia nella percezione di suoni non-nativi', Studi e Saggi Linguistici, 28.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2011), 'Vocabulary size matters: The assimilation of second-language Australian English vowels to first-language Japanese vowel categories', Applied Psycholinguistics, 17.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2011), 'Categorizing Mandarin tones into listeners' native prosodic categories: The role of phonetic properties', Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 13.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2011), 'Vocabulary size is associated with second-language vowel perception performance in adult learners', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29.
  • Best, C., Bradlow, A., Guion-Anderson, S. and Polka, L. (2011), 'Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms', Journal of Phonetics, 3.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2011), 'Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching', Journal of Phonetics, 13.
  • Best, C. and Halle, P. (2010), 'Perception of initial obstruent voicing is influenced by gestural organisation', Journal of Phonetics, 18.
  • Best, C., Mathur, G., Miranda, K. and Lillo-Martin, D. (2010), 'Effects of sign language experience on categorical perception of dynamic ASL pseudosigns', Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 16.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2010), 'Cross-language Perception of Non-native Tonal Contrasts: Effects of Native Phonological and Phonetic lnfluences', Language and Speech, 21.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2010), 'Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals' productions in both L1 and L2', Journal of Phonetics, 14.
  • Best, C., Tyler, M., Gooding, T., Orlando, C. and Quann, C. (2009), 'Development of Phonological Constancy - Toddlers' Perception of Native- and Jamaican-Accented Words', Psychological Science, 4.
  • Halle, P. and Best, C. (2007), 'Dental-to-velar peceptual assimilation: A cross-linguistic study of the perception of dental stop +/l/ clusters', Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 16.
  • Brancazio, L., Best, C. and Fowler, C. (2006), 'Visual Influences on Perception of Speech and Nonspeech Vocal-Tract Events', Language and Speech, 33.
  • Halle, P., Chang, Y. and Best, C. (2004), 'Identification and discrimination of Mandarin Chinese tones by Chinese versus French listeners', Journal of Phonetics, 27.
  • Best, C. (2003), 'Peeling back the layers of time: Integrating developmental, experiential, and stimulus time in speech perception', Journal of Phonetics, 6.
  • Best, C. and Mcroberts, G. (2003), 'Infant perception of nonnative consonant contrasts that adults assimilate in different ways', Language and Speech, 34.
  • Best, C. (2002), 'Revealing the mother tongue's nurturing effects on the infant ear', Infant Behavior and Development, 6.
  • Singh, L., Morgan, J. and Best, C. (2002), 'Infants' listening preferences: Baby talk or happy talk', Infancy, 30.
  • Best, C., Mcroberts, G. and Goodell, E. (2001), 'American listeners' perception of nonnative consonant contrasts varying in perceptual assimilation to English phonology', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 20.

Conference Papers

  • Gibert, G., Attina, V., Tiede, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Kasisopa, B., Vatikiotis-Bateson, E. and Best, C. (2012), 'Multimodal speech animation from electromagnetic articulography data', 20th European Signal processing Conference 2012, Bucharest, Romania.
  • Ying, J., Shaw, J., Kroos, C. and Best, C. (2012), 'Relations between acoustic and articulatory measurements of /l/', Speech Science and Technology Conference 2012, Sydney, Australia.
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R. and Best, C. (2012), 'Now you see it, now you don't - frequency distribution of articulatory information reflected in speech face motion', Speech, Science and Technology Conference 2012, Sydney, Australia.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Harvey, M., Best, C. and Kroos, C. (2012), 'The perception of coronal stops in Wubuy', Speech Science and Technology Conference 2012, Sydney, Australia.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C. and Best, C. (2012), 'Multimodal speech animation from electromagnetic articulography data', EUSIPCO-2012, Bucharest, Romania.
  • Shaw, J., Kroos, C. and Best, C. (2012), 'Relations between acoustic and articulatory measurements of /l/', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R. and Best, C. (2012), 'Now you see it, now you don't : frequency distribution of articulatory information reflected in speech face motion', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Kroos, C. (2012), 'The perception of coronal stops in Wubuy', Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Sydney, N.S.W..
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C. and Best, C. (2012), 'Speech articulator movements recorded from facing talkers using two electromagnetic articulometer systems simultaneously', Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Cancun, Mexico.
  • Bohn, O., Best, C., Avesani, C. and Vayra, M. (2011), 'Percieving through the Lens of Native Phonetics: Italian and Danish Listeners' Perception of English Consonant Contrasts', 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong.
  • Best, C., Kroos, C. and Irwin, J. (2011), 'Do infants detect A->V articulator congruency for non-native click consonants?', International Conference on Audio-Visual Speech Processing, Volterra, Italy.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2010), 'Categorizing Mandarin Tones to Listeners' Native Prosodic Categories: The Role of Phonetic Properties', 6th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, New Sounds 2010, Poznan, Poland.
  • Bohn, O. and Best, C. (2010), 'Testing PAM and SLM: Perception of American English approximants by Native Greman Listeners', 6th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, New Sounds 2010, Poznan, Poland.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Baker, B., Harvey, M., Best, C. and Kroos, C. (2010), 'Prosodic context effects on acoustic differentiation of coronal stops in Wubuy', 12th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 12) - Gesture as Language - Gesture and Language, New Mexico.
  • Best, C., Kroos, C. and Irwin, J. (2010), 'I can see what you said: Infant sensitivity to articulator congruency between audio-only and silent-video presentations of native and nonnative consonants', 9th International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Japan.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Kroos, C., Harvey, M., Best, C., Baker, B. and Goldstein, L. (2010), 'A kinematic analysis of temporal differentiation of the four-way coronal stop contrast in Wubuy (Australia)', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology Conference 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Kroos, C., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Goldstein, L. and Best, C. (2010), 'Tongue body position differences in the coronal stop consonants of Wubuy', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Proctor, M., Proctor, M., Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Goldstein, L., Kroos, C. and Harvey, M. (2010), 'Articulatory Modelling of Coronal Stop Contrasts in Wubuy', 13th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Wagner, M., Kinoshita, Y., Kemp, N., Ishihara, S., Ingram, J., Hajek, J., Grayden, D., Gocke, R., Fletcher, J., Estival, D., Epps, J., Tran, D., Dale, R., Cutler, A., Cox, F., Chetty, G., Cassidy, S., Butcher, A., Burnham, D., Bird, S., Best, C., Bennamoun, M., Togneri, R., Arciuli, J., Ambikairajah, E., Rose, P., Powers, D., Onslow, M., Loakes, D., Lewis, T. and Kuratate, T. (2010), 'The Big Australian Speech Corpus (The Big ASC)', 13th International Australasian Conference on Speech Science and Technology 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Burnham, D., Cox, F., Cutler, A., Dale, R., Epps, J., Fletcher, J., Goecke, R., Grayden, D., Hajek, J., Ingram, J., Ishihara, S., Ambikairajah, E., Kemp, N., Kinoshita, Y., Kuratate, T., Lewis, T., Loakes, D., Onslow, M., Powers, D., Rose, P., Togneri, R., Tran, D., Arciuli, J., Wagner, M., Bennamoun, M., Best, C., Bird, S., Butcher, A., Cassidy, S. and Chetty, G. (2009), 'A Blueprint for a Comprehensive Australian English Auditory-Visual Speech Corpus', HCSNet Workshop on Designing the Australian National Corpus: Mustering Languages, Sydney.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2008), 'Evidence of a Near-Merger in Western Sydney Australian English Vowels', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • Tyler, M., Best, C., Goldstein, L., Antoniou, M. and Krebs-Lazendic, L. (2008), 'Six and twelve-month-olds' discrimination of native versus non-native between- and within-organ fracative plast contrasts', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • So, C. and Best, C. (2008), 'Do English Speakers Assimilate Mandarin Tones to English Prosodic Categories', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Bundgaard-Nielsen, R., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2008), 'The Assimilation of L2 Australian English Vowels to L1 Japanese Vowel Categories: Vocabulary Size Matters', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C. and Tyler, M. (2008), 'Perceptual evidence of Modern Greek voiced stops as phonological categories', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
  • Krebs-Lazendic, L. and Best, C. (2008), 'Early and late bilinguals' vowel perception and production: English vowel contrasts that give Serbian-English bilinguals a H(E)AD-ache', New Sounds 2007:Fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil.
  • Antoniou, M., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Keoos, C. (2008), 'Effects of linguistic context on Greek-English bilingual production of voice onset time', Laboratory Phonology 11, Victoria University: Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Goldstein, L., Nam, H., Kulshreshtha, M., Root, L. and Best, C. (2008), 'Distribution of tongue tip articulations in Hindi versus English and the acquisition of stop place categories', Laboratory Phonology 11, Victoria University: Wellington, New Zealand.
  • Krebs-Lazendic, L. and Best, C. (2008), 'Early and Late Bilinguals' Vowel Perception and Production: English Vowel Contrasts that give Serbian-English Bilinguals a H(E)AD-ache', Fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, Florianopolis, Brazi.
  • Chang, Y., Halle, P., Best, C. and Abramson, A. (2008), 'Do non-native language listeners perceive Mandarin tone continua categorically?', 8th Phonetics Conference of China and the International Symposium on Phonetic Frontiers, Beijing, China.
  • Best, C., Halle, P. and Pardo, J. (2007), 'English and French Speakers' Perception of Voicing Distinctions in Non-Native Lateral Consonant Syllable Onsets', Interspeech 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Le, J., Best, C., Tyler, M. and Kroos, C. (2007), 'Effects of Non-native Dialects on Spoken Word Recognition', Interspeech 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Best, C. and Lazarek, D. (2005), 'Influences of visible place versus manner distinctions on perception of audio-visual English CV syllables', Auditory-Visual Speech Processing 2005, .
  • Best, C., Traill, A., Carter, A., Harrison, K. and Faber, A. (2003), '!Xoo click perception by English, Isizulu, and Sesotho listeners', International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona.

Research

Current Projects

Title:Children's generalisation and adaptation to unfamiliar regional accents reveal the path of early word learning
Years:2013-02-01 - 2016-01-31
ID:P00020819
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura
Funding:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Title:You came TO DIE?! Perceptual adaptation to regional accents as a new lens on the puzzle of spoken word recognition
Years:2012-01-01 - 2014-12-31
ID:P00020109
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best and Jason Shaw
Funding:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)

Previous Projects

Title:Early ontogeny of attunement to the language of environment
Years:2005-02-10 - 2008-03-31
ID:P0014699
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best
Funding:
  • National Institutes of Health
Title:How Strict is the Mother tongue? Using Dialects to Probe Early Speech Perception and Word Recognition
Years:2007-01-01 - 2011-12-31
ID:P0015136
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura
Funding:
  • Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Title:AHAA! (Analysis of Human Articulate Activities): A Communicative Dynamics Research Facility
Years:2006-09-01 - 2007-08-31
ID:P0015240
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best, Catherine Stevens, Michael Tyler, Christian Kroos, Christopher Davis and Denis Burnham
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:Research Event - Workshop on the phonetics and phonology of Australian Indigenous languages
Years:2013-06-13 - 2013-06-14
ID:P00021030
UWS Researchers:Robert Mailhammer, Jason Shaw and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association
Title:Dynamic Auditory-Visual Humans
Years:2007-08-06 - 2008-12-31
ID:P0015758
UWS Researchers:Christopher Davis, Denis Burnham, Catherine Best, Roger Dean, Catherine Stevens, Jeesun Kim, Takaaki Kuratate, Christian Kroos, Michael Tyler and Connie So
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:A Pitch in Time: Investigation of Expectancies and Implicit Learning in Music Cognition
Years:2006-05-26 - 2012-12-01
ID:P0015162
UWS Researchers:Catherine Stevens, Denis Burnham and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:Expectations on the Line: Implicit vs. Explicit Knowledge of Melodic and Rhythmic Patterning
Years:2006-12-20 - 2008-01-03
ID:P0015399
UWS Researchers:Catherine Stevens and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:See Hear! Multimodal Recording and Analysis Facility
Years:2006-05-09 - 2011-12-31
ID:P0014825
UWS Researchers:Catherine Stevens, Roger Dean, Denis Burnham, Stephen Malloch, Garth Paine and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • Australian Research Council (non ACRG)
  • University of Western Sydney
  • University of Western Sydney
  • Australian Choreographic Centre
  • Uni NSW Univ of Syd and Univ of Canberra
Title:How do infants segment their first words from continuous speech?
Years:2005-12-21 - 2007-06-20
ID:P0015006
UWS Researchers:Michael Tyler and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:What in the world did she say? Cross-dialect pronunciation differences and their impact on English word recognition
Years:2008-06-17 - 2010-01-16
ID:P00016145
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best and Christian Kroos
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:The Big Australian Speech Corpus: An Audio-Visual Speech Corpus of Australian English
Years:2010-07-01 - 2013-06-30
ID:P00017142
UWS Researchers:Denis Burnham, Takaaki Kuratate and Catherine Best
Funding:
  • University of Melbourne
  • University of Canberra
  • Flinders University of South Australia
  • University of New South Wales
  • University of Queensland
  • University of Sydney
  • Australian National University (non ACRG)
  • Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association
  • University of Tasmania
  • Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
  • University of Western Australia
  • Macquarie University
  • University of Western Sydney
  • Australian Research Council (non ACRG)
Title:Audio-visual speech: Integrative ecological approach to measurement, modelling, synthesis and perception
Years:2006-01-25 - 2007-09-24
ID:P0014916
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney
Title:Italian roots in Australian soil: Tracing regional linguistic heritage in first and second generation bilinguals
Years:2011-11-09 - 2013-05-31
ID:P00020489
UWS Researchers:Catherine Best and Bruno Di Biase
Funding:
  • University of Western Sydney

Supervision

Professor Best is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects

Current Supervision

Title:Second Language Acquisition in Autism
Field of Research:

University of Western Sydney

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