F0 as a Word Boundary Cue for Segmenting New Zealand English Ethnolects

It has been shown that English speakers (from non-New Zealand backgrounds) use initial stress as a word boundary cue in the segmentation of continuous speech [1]. Research has also shown that Maori English is significantly more syllabletimed than Pakeha English [2]. New Zealanders have exposure to both Maori and Pakeha English. We ask whether they use different segmentation strategies when they are listening to speakers with different dialect features. More precisely, we question whether a) New Zealand English speakers use the same segmentation strategies as speakers of other varieties of English, and b) whether New Zealanders segment words in continuous speech in these ethnolects differently. To answer these questions, an artificial language learning paradigm was used, based on [1].