Gong Jian，PhD， Master student supervisor， Associate Professor at the School of Foreign Languages，Jiangsu University of Science and Technology. He obtained an MSc in Advanced Software Engineering from the University of Sheffield， UK， and a PhDin Applied Linguistics from the University of the Basque Country， Spain. His research interests include speech perception， second language acquisition，psycholinguistics， neurolinguistics， speech signal processing， and computational modelling of speech perception. He is now a council member of the Chinese Second Language Processing Association，a member of the International Speech Communication Association （ISCA）， and the International Phonetic Association （IPA）. He has published several papers in top journals and conferences including Speech Communication， System， Interspeech and ICPhS.He has been the Principle Investigator for several projects supported by the Humanities and Social Science Fund of the Ministry of Education of China，and the Jiangsu Social Science Fund.

　　This book reports on an investigation based around a number of studies that use computational statistical pattern recognition and machine learning techniques to simulate listeners' non-native consonant perception and learning development. More specifically， listeners' second language （L2） to native language （L1） consonant assimilations as well as the early stage development of learners' L2 consonant acquisition have been modelled.
　　In the first study an English to Chinese consonant assimilation experiment was carried out， after which Hidden Markov Model （HMM） based statistical models were built to simulate listener data. Significant listener-model correlations were found， validating the effectiveness of the modelling techniques. Further， orthographic and dialect interferences were also found in the behavioural study，suggesting the necessity of considering these factors in cross-language perception studies.

Chapter 1 Introduction
1．1 Motivation
1．2 Book structure

Chapter 2 Speech perception and L2 sounds acquisition
2．1 Theories of speech perception
2．1．1 Motor Theory
2．1．2 Direct Realist Theory
2．1．3 General Auditory Approach
2．2 11 influence and the theoretical models in L2 sounds acquisition
2．2．1 Perceptual Assimilation Model
2．2．2 Speech Learning Model
2．2．3 PAM-L2 Model
2．2．4 Native Language Magnet Model
2．3 Age， input and other factors in L2 sounds acquisition
2．3．1 Critical period hypothesis
2．3．2 AOL and AOA
2．3．3 LOR and exposure
2．3．4 Other individual factors
2．3．5 Dialect and regional accent influences on speech perception
……
Chapter 3 Towards a quantitative model of Mandarin Chinese perception of English consonants
Chapter 4 A computational modelling approach to the development of L2 sounds acquisition
Chapter 5 Rapid learning of foreign language sounds：An investigation into Spanish consonant acquisition by Chinese learners
Chapter 6 Computational modelling the development of Spanish consonant acquisition by Chinese listeners
Chapter 7 Consonant space modelling using Generative Topographic Mapping
Chapter 8 Summary and future directions
Appendix A Spanish consonant confusions for Chinese listeners
Appendix B Model-listener RMS distance and shape indices
Appendix C Hinton diagrams for model and listener Spanish consonant confusion matrices
Appendix D KL distances between Spanish consonants in GTM
List of Figures
List of Tables
Bibliography
Postscript