Exploring Cross-linguistic Effects and Phonetic Interactions in the Context of Bilingualism

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 57792

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Guest Editor
Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics; University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Interests: acoustic and articulatory phonetics; bilingual speech perception and production; heritage speaker phonetics and phonology; second language lexical and phonological processing; bilingual language dominance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together state-of-the-art papers that examine cross-linguistic effects and phonetic interactions in the context of bilingualism. Many studies have shown that early learners outperform late learners in various production and perception tasks (Baker and Trofimovich, 2005; Darcy and Krüger, 2012; Flege et al., 1999), and specifically that early bilinguals produce and perceive L1 and L2 sounds free of interlingual interference (Guion et al., 2004; Mack, 1989; Piske et al., 2002), suggesting that early exposure helps to develop and maintain independent or separate phonetic systems. However, a number of studies also suggest that these bilinguals’ combined or interrelated systems influence each other at a fine-grained acoustic level (Flege et al., 1995; Fowler et al., 2008), and early and extensive exposure to a second language may not be sufficient to attain target-like phonetic abilities in the language (Bosch et al., 2000; Pallier et al., 1997; Sebastián-Gallés and Soto-Faraco, 1999; Sebastián-Gallés et al., 2005). In order to better understand the phonological/phonetic systems of early and late bilinguals, it is clear that we are obligated to consider many variables in addition to age of acquisition, such as language proficiency, language dominance, language use and other non-linguistic variables that are particular to the experiences of the bilingual community under investigation. For this Special Issue, we welcome papers that address cross-linguistic influence in bilingual speech production, perception, and processing, that use a wide variety of methodologies and that inform current theoretical frameworks on bilingual speech.

References

Baker, W., & Trofimovich, P. (2005). Interaction of native- and second-language vowel system(s) in early and late bilinguals. Language and Speech, 48, 1-27.

Darcy, I., & Krüger, F. (2012). Vowel perception and production in Turkish children acquiring L2 German. Journal of Phonetics40(4), 568-581.

Flege, J. E., MacKay, I. R., & Meador, D. (1999b). Native Italian speakers’ perception and production of English vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America106(5), 2973-2987.

Guion, S. G., Harada, T., & Clark, J. J. (2004). Early and late Spanish–English bilinguals' acquisition of English word stress patterns. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition7(3), 207-226.

Mack, M. (1989). Consonant and vowel perception and production: Early English-French bilinguals and English monolinguals. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics46(2), 187-200.

Piske, T., Flege, J. E., MacKay, I. R., & Meador, D. (2002). The production of English vowels by fluent early and late Italian-English bilinguals. Phonetica59(1), 49-71.

Flege, J. E., Munro, M. J., & MacKay, I. R. (1995). Factors affecting strength of perceived foreign accent in a second language. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America97(5), 3125-3134.

Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of memory and language41(1), 78-104.

Fowler, C.A., Sramko, V., Ostry, D.J., Rowland, S.A., & Hallé, P. (2008). Cross language phonetic influences on the speech of French-English bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics, 36(4), 649-663.

Bosch, L., Costa, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2000). First and second language vowel perception in early bilinguals. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology12(2), 189-221.

Pallier, C., Bosch, L., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (1997). A limit on behavioral plasticity in speech perception. Cognition64(3), B9-B17.

Sebastián-Gallés, N., & Soto-Faraco, S. (1999). Online processing of native and non-native phonemic contrasts in early bilinguals. Cognition72(2), 111-123.

Sebastián-Gallés, N., Echeverría, S., & Bosch, L. (2005). The influence of initial exposure on lexical representation: Comparing early and simultaneous bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language52(2), 240-255.

Dr. Mark Amengual
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • bilingualism
  • acoustic phonetics
  • speech perception
  • speech processing
  • bilingual phonological representations
  • language dominance
  • language use
  • language proficiency
  • cross-linguistic influence
  • language contact
  • heritage languages
  • minority languages

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Published Papers (15 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 1127 KiB  
Article
The Role of Acoustic Similarity and Non-Native Categorisation in Predicting Non-Native Discrimination: Brazilian Portuguese Vowels by English vs. Spanish Listeners
by Jaydene Elvin, Daniel Williams, Jason A. Shaw, Catherine T. Best and Paola Escudero
Languages 2021, 6(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010044 - 5 Mar 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3221
Abstract
This study tests whether Australian English (AusE) and European Spanish (ES) listeners differ in their categorisation and discrimination of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels. In particular, we investigate two theoretically relevant measures of vowel category overlap (acoustic vs. perceptual categorisation) as predictors of non-native [...] Read more.
This study tests whether Australian English (AusE) and European Spanish (ES) listeners differ in their categorisation and discrimination of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels. In particular, we investigate two theoretically relevant measures of vowel category overlap (acoustic vs. perceptual categorisation) as predictors of non-native discrimination difficulty. We also investigate whether the individual listener’s own native vowel productions predict non-native vowel perception better than group averages. The results showed comparable performance for AusE and ES participants in their perception of the BP vowels. In particular, discrimination patterns were largely dependent on contrast-specific learning scenarios, which were similar across AusE and ES. We also found that acoustic similarity between individuals’ own native productions and the BP stimuli were largely consistent with the participants’ patterns of non-native categorisation. Furthermore, the results indicated that both acoustic and perceptual overlap successfully predict discrimination performance. However, accuracy in discrimination was better explained by perceptual similarity for ES listeners and by acoustic similarity for AusE listeners. Interestingly, we also found that for ES listeners, the group averages explained discrimination accuracy better than predictions based on individual production data, but that the AusE group showed no difference. Full article
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20 pages, 2309 KiB  
Article
Interlingual Interactions Elicit Performance Mismatches Not “Compromise” Categories in Early Bilinguals: Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Coronal Stops
by Joseph V. Casillas
Languages 2021, 6(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010009 - 4 Jan 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3186
Abstract
Previous studies attest that some early bilinguals produce the sounds of their languages in a manner that is characterized as “compromise” with regard to monolingual speakers. The present study uses meta-analytic techniques and coronal stop data from early bilinguals in order to assess [...] Read more.
Previous studies attest that some early bilinguals produce the sounds of their languages in a manner that is characterized as “compromise” with regard to monolingual speakers. The present study uses meta-analytic techniques and coronal stop data from early bilinguals in order to assess this claim. The goal was to evaluate the cumulative evidence for “compromise” voice-onset time (VOT) in the speech of early bilinguals by providing a comprehensive assessment of the literature and presenting an acoustic analysis of coronal stops from early Spanish–English bilinguals. The studies were coded for linguistic and methodological features, as well as effect sizes, and then analyzed using a cross-classified Bayesian meta-analysis. The pooled effect for “compromise” VOT was negligible (β = −0.13). The acoustic analysis of the coronal stop data showed that the early Spanish–English bilinguals often produced Spanish and English targets with mismatched features from their other language. These performance mismatches presumably occurred as a result of interlingual interactions elicited by the experimental task. Taken together, the results suggest that early bilinguals do not have “compromise” VOT, though their speech involves dynamic phonetic interactions that can surface as performance mismatches during speech production. Full article
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23 pages, 970 KiB  
Article
Perceived Phonological Overlap in Second-Language Categories: The Acquisition of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese Native Listeners
by Michael D. Tyler
Languages 2021, 6(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010004 - 28 Dec 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4512
Abstract
Japanese learners of English can acquire /r/ and /l/, but discrimination accuracy rarely reaches native speaker levels. How do L2 learners develop phonological categories to acquire a vocabulary when they cannot reliably tell them apart? This study aimed to test the possibility that [...] Read more.
Japanese learners of English can acquire /r/ and /l/, but discrimination accuracy rarely reaches native speaker levels. How do L2 learners develop phonological categories to acquire a vocabulary when they cannot reliably tell them apart? This study aimed to test the possibility that learners establish new L2 categories but perceive phonological overlap between them when they perceive an L2 phone. That is, they perceive it to be an instance of more than one of their L2 phonological categories. If so, improvements in discrimination accuracy with L2 experience should correspond to a reduction in overlap. Japanese native speakers differing in English L2 immersion, and native English speakers, completed a forced category goodness rating task, where they rated the goodness of fit of an auditory stimulus to an English phonological category label. The auditory stimuli were 10 steps of a synthetic /r/–/l/ continuum, plus /w/ and /j/, and the category labels were L, R, W, and Y. Less experienced Japanese participants rated steps at the /l/-end of the continuum as equally good versions of /l/ and /r/, but steps at the /r/-end were rated as better versions of /r/ than /l/. For those with more than 2 years of immersion, there was a separation of goodness ratings at both ends of the continuum, but the separation was smaller than it was for the native English speakers. Thus, L2 listeners appear to perceive a phonological overlap between /r/ and /l/. Their performance on the task also accounted for their responses on /r/–/l/ identification and AXB discrimination tasks. As perceived phonological overlap appears to improve with immersion experience, assessing category overlap may be useful for tracking L2 phonological development. Full article
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21 pages, 1531 KiB  
Article
Information-Seeking Question Intonation in Basque Spanish and Its Correlation with Degree of Contact and Language Attitudes
by Magdalena Romera and Gorka Elordieta
Languages 2020, 5(4), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040070 - 14 Dec 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3009
Abstract
The present study analyzes the prosodic characteristics of the variety of Spanish in contact with Basque (in the Basque Country, Spain). We focus on information-seeking yes/no questions, which present different intonation contours in Spanish and Basque. In Castilian Spanish, these sentences end in [...] Read more.
The present study analyzes the prosodic characteristics of the variety of Spanish in contact with Basque (in the Basque Country, Spain). We focus on information-seeking yes/no questions, which present different intonation contours in Spanish and Basque. In Castilian Spanish, these sentences end in a rising contour, whereas in Basque, they end in a falling or rising–falling circumflex contour. In our previous work, this topic was investigated among the urban populations of Bilbao and San Sebastian. The results were that 79% of information-seeking yes/no questions had final falling intonational configurations. All the speakers presented a substantial presence of final falls regardless of their linguistic profile, but there were differences among speakers in the degree of presence of such features. A correlation was observed between the dependent variable of ‘frequency of occurrence of final falls in absolute interrogatives’ and social factors, such as ‘degree of contact with Basque’ and ‘attitudes towards Basque and the Basque ethnolinguistic group’. The correlation was that the higher the degree of contact with Basque and the more positive the attitudes towards Basque and the Basque ethnolinguistic group, the greater the frequency of occurrence of final falling intonational contours in information-seeking absolute interrogatives. The interpretation of this correlation was that the adoption of the characteristic Basque prosody allows speakers to be recognized as members of the Basque community. In the present study, we focused on rural areas. Falling intonational contours at the end of information-seeking absolute interrogatives were even more common than in urban areas (93.4%), and no correlation was found with degree of contact with Basque and with attitudes towards Basque. Our interpretation is that in rural areas the presence of Basque in daily life is stronger, and that there is a consolidated variety of Spanish used by all speakers regardless of their attitudes. Thus, the adoption of intonating features of this language is not the only indicator belonging to the Basque ethnolinguistic group. Our study reveals the great relevance of subjective social factors, such as language attitudes, in the degree of convergence between two languages. Full article
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22 pages, 7806 KiB  
Article
Asymmetry and Directionality in Catalan–Spanish Contact: Intervocalic Fricatives in Barcelona and Valencia
by Justin Davidson
Languages 2020, 5(4), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040060 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3928
Abstract
Multilingual communities often exhibit asymmetry in directionality by which the majority language exerts greater influence on the minority language. In the case of Spanish in contact with Catalan, the asymmetry of directionality, favoring stronger influence of Spanish as a majority language over Catalan, [...] Read more.
Multilingual communities often exhibit asymmetry in directionality by which the majority language exerts greater influence on the minority language. In the case of Spanish in contact with Catalan, the asymmetry of directionality, favoring stronger influence of Spanish as a majority language over Catalan, is complicated by the unique sociolinguistic statuses afforded to different varieties of Catalan. In order to empirically substantiate the social underpinnings of directionality in language contact settings, the present study examines the variable voicing and devoicing of intervocalic alveolar fricatives in Spanish, Barcelonan Catalan, and Valencian Catalan as processes that are historically endogenous and equally linguistically motivated in both languages. Intervocalic fricatives in both languages were elicited using a phrase-list reading task, alongside sociolinguistic interviews for attitudinal data, administered to 96 Catalan–Spanish bilinguals stratified by gender, age, and language dominance in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain. Patterns of sociolinguistic stratification consistent with community-level changes in progress favoring either Catalan-like voicing or Spanish-like devoicing varied by community, with a stronger influence of Catalan on Spanish in Barcelona and Spanish on Catalan in Valencia. These asymmetries, corroborated by attitudinal differences afforded to Catalan and Spanish in Barcelona and Valencia, ultimately reinforce the role of social factors in language contact outcomes. Full article
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18 pages, 4646 KiB  
Article
Redefining Sociophonetic Competence: Mapping COG Differences in Phrase-Final Fricative Epithesis in L1 and L2 Speakers of French
by Amanda Dalola and Keiko Bridwell
Languages 2020, 5(4), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040059 - 12 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2773
Abstract
This article presents a study of measures of center of gravity (COG) in phrase-final fricative epithesis (PFFE) produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Continental French (CF). Participants completed a reading task targeting 98 tokens of /i,y,u/ in phrase-final position. COG measures were [...] Read more.
This article presents a study of measures of center of gravity (COG) in phrase-final fricative epithesis (PFFE) produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Continental French (CF). Participants completed a reading task targeting 98 tokens of /i,y,u/ in phrase-final position. COG measures were taken at the 25%, 50% and 75% marks, normalized and submitted to a mixed linear regression. Results revealed that L2 speakers showed higher COG values than L1 speakers in low PFFE-to-vowel ratios at the 25%, 50%, and 75% marks. COG measures were then categorized into six profile types on the basis of their frequencies at each timepoint: flat–low, flat–high, rising, falling, rising–falling, and falling–rising. Counts of COG profile were then submitted to multinomial logistic regression. Results revealed that although L1 speakers produced predominantly flat–low profile types at lower percent devoicings, L2 speakers preferred multiple strategies involving higher levels of articulatory energy (rising, falling, rise–fall). These results suggest that while L1 speakers realize PFFE differently with respect to phonological context, L2 speakers rely on its most common allophone, strong frication, in most contexts. As such, the findings of this study argue for an additional phonetic dimension in the construct of L2 sociophonetic competence. Full article
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29 pages, 5521 KiB  
Article
A Phonetic Account of Spanish-English Bilinguals’ Divergence with Agreement
by Laura Colantoni, Ruth Martínez, Natalia Mazzaro, Ana T. Pérez-Leroux and Natalia Rinaldi
Languages 2020, 5(4), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040058 - 11 Nov 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4148
Abstract
Does bilingual language influence in the domain of phonetics impact the morphosyntactic domain? Spanish gender is encoded by word-final, unstressed vowels (/a e o/), which may diphthongize in word-boundary vowel sequences. English neutralizes unstressed final vowels and separates across-word vocalic sequences. The realization [...] Read more.
Does bilingual language influence in the domain of phonetics impact the morphosyntactic domain? Spanish gender is encoded by word-final, unstressed vowels (/a e o/), which may diphthongize in word-boundary vowel sequences. English neutralizes unstressed final vowels and separates across-word vocalic sequences. The realization of gender vowels as schwa, due to cross-linguistic influence, may remain undetected if not directly analyzed. To explore the potential over-reporting of gender accuracy, we conducted parallel phonetic and morphosyntactic analyses of read and semi-spontaneous speech produced by 11 Monolingual speakers and 13 Early and 13 Late Spanish-English bilinguals. F1 and F2 values were extracted at five points for all word-final unstressed vowels and vowel sequences. All determiner phrases (DPs) from narratives were coded for morphological and contextual parameters. Early bilinguals exhibited clear patterns of vowel centralization and higher rates of hiatuses than the other groups. However, the morphological analysis yielded very few errors. A follow-up integrated analysis revealed that /a and o/ were realized as centralized vowels, particularly with [+Animate] nouns. We propose that bilinguals’ schwa-like realizations can be over-interpreted as target Spanish vowels. Such variable vowel realization may be a factor in the vulnerability to attrition in gender marking in Spanish as a heritage language. Full article
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27 pages, 3092 KiB  
Article
(Divergent) Participation in the California Vowel Shift by Korean Americans in Southern California
by Ji Young Kim and Nicole Wong
Languages 2020, 5(4), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040053 - 6 Nov 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4346
Abstract
This study investigates the participation in the California Vowel Shift by Korean Americans in Los Angeles. Five groups of subjects participated in a picture narrative task: first-, 1.5-, and second-generation Korean Americans, Anglo-Californians, and (non-immigrant) Korean late learners of English. Results showed a [...] Read more.
This study investigates the participation in the California Vowel Shift by Korean Americans in Los Angeles. Five groups of subjects participated in a picture narrative task: first-, 1.5-, and second-generation Korean Americans, Anglo-Californians, and (non-immigrant) Korean late learners of English. Results showed a clear distinction between early vs. late bilinguals; while the first-generation Korean Americans and the late learners showed apparent signs of Korean influence, the 1.5- and the second-generation Korean Americans participated in most patterns of the California Vowel Shift. However, divergence from the Anglo-Californians was observed in early bilinguals’ speech. Similar to the late bilinguals, the 1.5-generation speakers did not systematically distinguish prenasal and non-prenasal /æ/. The second-generation speakers demonstrated a split-/æ/ system, but it was less pronounced than for the Anglo-Californians. These findings suggest that age of arrival has a strong effect on immigrant minority speakers’ participation in local sound change. In the case of the second-generation Korean Americans, certain patterns of the California Vowel Shift were even more pronounced than for the Anglo-Californians (i.e., /ɪ/-lowering, /ɑ/-/ɔ/ merger, /ʊ/- and /ʌ/-fronting). Moreover, the entire vowel space of the second-generation Korean Americans, especially female speakers, was more fronted than that of the Anglo-Californians. These findings suggest that second-generation Korean Americans may be in a more advanced stage of the California Vowel Shift than Anglo-Californians or the California Vowel Shift is on a different trajectory for these speakers. Possible explanations in relation to second-generation Korean Americans’ intersecting gender, ethnic, and racial identities, and suggestions for future research are discussed. Full article
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21 pages, 4992 KiB  
Article
Cross-Linguistic Interactions in Third Language Acquisition: Evidence from Multi-Feature Analysis of Speech Perception
by Magdalena Wrembel, Ulrike Gut, Romana Kopečková and Anna Balas
Languages 2020, 5(4), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040052 - 3 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4600
Abstract
Research on third language (L3) phonological acquisition has shown that Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI) plays a role not only in forming the newly acquired language but also in reshaping the previously established ones. Only a few studies to date have examined cross-linguistic effects in [...] Read more.
Research on third language (L3) phonological acquisition has shown that Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI) plays a role not only in forming the newly acquired language but also in reshaping the previously established ones. Only a few studies to date have examined cross-linguistic effects in the speech perception of multilingual learners. The aim of this study is to explore the development of speech perception in young multilinguals’ non-native languages (L2 and L3) and to trace the patterns of CLI between their phonological subsystems over time. The participants were 13 L1 Polish speakers (aged 12–13), learning English as L2 and German as L3. They performed a forced-choice goodness task in L2 and L3 to test their perception of rhotics and final obstruent (de)voicing. Response accuracy and reaction times were recorded for analyses at two testing times. The results indicate that CLI in perceptual development is feature-dependent with relative stability evidenced for L2 rhotics, reverse trends for L3 rhotics, and no significant development for L2/L3 (de)voicing. We also found that the source of CLI differed across the speakers’ languages: the perception accuracy of rhotics differed significantly with respect to stimulus properties, that is, whether they were L1-, L2-, or L3-accented. Full article
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21 pages, 3750 KiB  
Article
Shared or Separate Representations? The Spanish Palatal Nasal in Early Spanish/English Bilinguals
by Sara Stefanich and Jennifer Cabrelli
Languages 2020, 5(4), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040050 - 2 Nov 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3106
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine phonetic interactions in early Spanish/English bilinguals to see if they have established a representation for the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/ (e.g., /kaɲon/ cañón ‘canyon’) that is separate from the similar, yet acoustically distinct English /n+j/ [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study is to examine phonetic interactions in early Spanish/English bilinguals to see if they have established a representation for the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/ (e.g., /kaɲon/ cañón ‘canyon’) that is separate from the similar, yet acoustically distinct English /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /kænjn̩/ ‘canyon’). Twenty heritage speakers of Spanish completed a delayed repetition task in each language, in which a set of disyllabic nonce words were produced in a carrier phrase. English critical stimuli contained an intervocalic /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /dɛnjɑ/ ‘denya’) and Spanish critical stimuli contained intervocalic /ɲ/ (e.g., /deɲja/ ‘deña’). We measured the duration and formant contours of the following vocalic portion as acoustic indices of the /ɲ/~/n+j/ distinction. The duration data and formant contour data alike show that early bilinguals distinguish between the Spanish /ɲ/ and English /n+j/ in production, indicative of the maintenance of separate representations for these similar sounds and thus a lack of interaction between systems for bilinguals in this scenario. We discuss these discrete representations in comparison to previous evidence of shared and separate representations in this population, examining a set of variables that are potentially responsible for the attested distinction. Full article
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27 pages, 4912 KiB  
Article
The Contributions of Crosslinguistic Influence and Individual Differences to Nonnative Speech Perception
by Charles B. Chang and Sungmi Kwon
Languages 2020, 5(4), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040049 - 31 Oct 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3666
Abstract
Perception of a nonnative language (L2) is known to be affected by crosslinguistic transfer from a listener’s native language (L1), but the relative importance of L1 transfer vis-a-vis individual learner differences remains unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that the nature of L1 [...] Read more.
Perception of a nonnative language (L2) is known to be affected by crosslinguistic transfer from a listener’s native language (L1), but the relative importance of L1 transfer vis-a-vis individual learner differences remains unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that the nature of L1 transfer changes as learners gain experience with the L2, such that individual differences are more influential at earlier stages of learning and L1 transfer is more influential at later stages of learning. To test this hypothesis, novice L2 learners of Korean from diverse L1 backgrounds were examined in a pretest-posttest design with respect to their perceptual acquisition of novel L2 consonant contrasts (the three-way Korean laryngeal contrast among lenis, fortis, and aspirated plosives) and vowel contrasts (/o/-/ʌ/, /u/-/ɨ/). Whereas pretest performance showed little evidence of L1 effects, posttest performance showed significant L1 transfer. Furthermore, pretest performance did not predict posttest performance. These findings support the view that L1 knowledge influences L2 perception dynamically, according to the amount of L2 knowledge available to learners at that time. That is, both individual differences and L1 knowledge play a role in L2 perception, but to different degrees over the course of L2 development. Full article
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33 pages, 4078 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Instructed Second Language Learning on the Acoustic Properties of First Language Speech
by Olga Dmitrieva, Allard Jongman and Joan A. Sereno
Languages 2020, 5(4), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040044 - 26 Oct 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4247
Abstract
This paper reports on a comprehensive phonetic study of American classroom learners of Russian, investigating the influence of the second language (L2) on the first language (L1). Russian and English productions of 20 learners were compared to 18 English monolingual controls focusing on [...] Read more.
This paper reports on a comprehensive phonetic study of American classroom learners of Russian, investigating the influence of the second language (L2) on the first language (L1). Russian and English productions of 20 learners were compared to 18 English monolingual controls focusing on the acoustics of word-initial and word-final voicing. The results demonstrate that learners’ Russian was acoustically different from their English, with shorter voice onset times (VOTs) in [−voice] stops, longer prevoicing in [+voice] stops, more [−voice] stops with short lag VOTs and more [+voice] stops with prevoicing, indicating a degree of successful L2 pronunciation learning. Crucially, learners also demonstrated an L1 phonetic change compared to monolingual English speakers. Specifically, the VOT of learners’ initial English voiceless stops was shortened, indicating assimilation with Russian, while the frequency of prevoicing in learners’ English was decreased, indicating dissimilation with Russian. Word-final, the duration of preceding vowels, stop closures, frication, and voicing during consonantal constriction all demonstrated drift towards Russian norms of word-final voicing neutralization. The study confirms that L2-driven phonetic changes in L1 are possible even in L1-immersed classroom language learners, challenging the role of reduced L1 use and highlighting the plasticity of the L1 phonetic system. Full article
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21 pages, 2054 KiB  
Article
Short-Term Sources of Cross-Linguistic Phonetic Influence: Examining the Role of Linguistic Environment
by Daniel J. Olson
Languages 2020, 5(4), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040043 - 24 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2764
Abstract
While previous research has shown that bilinguals are able to effectively maintain two sets of phonetic norms, these two phonetic systems experience varying degrees of cross-linguistic influence, driven by both long-term (e.g., proficiency, immersion) and short-term (e.g., bilingual language contexts, code-switching, sociolinguistic) factors. [...] Read more.
While previous research has shown that bilinguals are able to effectively maintain two sets of phonetic norms, these two phonetic systems experience varying degrees of cross-linguistic influence, driven by both long-term (e.g., proficiency, immersion) and short-term (e.g., bilingual language contexts, code-switching, sociolinguistic) factors. This study examines the potential for linguistic environment, or the language norms of the broader community in which an interaction takes place, to serve as a source of short-term cross-linguistic phonetic influence. To investigate the role of linguistic environment, late bilinguals (L1 English—L2 Spanish) produced Spanish utterances in two sessions that differed in their linguistic environments: an English-dominant linguistic environment (Indiana, USA) and a Spanish-dominant linguistic environment (Madrid, Spain). Productions were analyzed at the fine-grained acoustic level, through an acoustic analysis of voice onset time, as well as more holistically through native speaker global accent ratings. Results showed that linguistic environment did not significantly impact either measure of phonetic production, regardless of a speaker’s second language proficiency. These results, in conjunction with previous results on long- and short-term sources of phonetic influence, suggest a possible primacy of the immediate context of an interaction, rather than broader community norms, in determining language mode and cross-linguistic influence. Full article
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20 pages, 614 KiB  
Article
Does Teaching Your Native Language Abroad Increase L1 Attrition of Speech? The Case of Spaniards in the United Kingdom
by Robert Mayr, David Sánchez and Ineke Mennen
Languages 2020, 5(4), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040041 - 22 Oct 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4131
Abstract
The present study examines the perceived L1 accent of two groups of native Spaniards in the United Kingdom, Spanish teachers, and non-teachers, alongside monolingual controls in Spain. While the bilingual groups were carefully matched on a range of background variables, the teachers used [...] Read more.
The present study examines the perceived L1 accent of two groups of native Spaniards in the United Kingdom, Spanish teachers, and non-teachers, alongside monolingual controls in Spain. While the bilingual groups were carefully matched on a range of background variables, the teachers used Spanish significantly more at work where they constantly need to co-activate it alongside English. This allowed us to test the relative effect of reduced L1 use and dual language activation in first language attrition directly. To obtain global accentedness ratings, monolingual native Spanish listeners living in Spain participated in an online perception experiment in which they rated short speech samples extracted from a picture-based narrative produced by each speaker in terms of their perceived nativeness, and indicated which features they associated with non-nativeness. The results revealed significantly greater foreign-accent ratings for teachers than non-teachers and monolinguals, but no difference between the latter two. Non-native speech was associated with a range of segmental and suprasegmental features. These results suggest that language teachers who teach their L1 in an L2-speaking environment may be particularly prone to L1 attrition since they need to co-activate both their languages in professional settings and are regularly exposed to non-native speech from L2 learners. Full article
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19 pages, 2285 KiB  
Article
The Perception of Postalveolar English Obstruents by Spanish Speakers Learning English as a Foreign Language in Mexico
by Mariela López Velarde and Miquel Simonet
Languages 2020, 5(2), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5020027 - 22 Jun 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3938
Abstract
The present study deals with the perception (identification and discrimination) of an English phonemic contrast (/t∫/–/∫/, as in cheat and sheet) by speakers of two Mexican varieties of Spanish who are learning English as a foreign language. Unlike English, Spanish does not [...] Read more.
The present study deals with the perception (identification and discrimination) of an English phonemic contrast (/t∫/–/∫/, as in cheat and sheet) by speakers of two Mexican varieties of Spanish who are learning English as a foreign language. Unlike English, Spanish does not contrast /t∫/ and /∫/ phonemically. Most Spanish varieties have [t∫], but not [∫]. In northwestern Mexico, [∫] and [t∫] find themselves in a situation of “free” variation—perhaps conditioned, to some extent, by social factors, but not in complementary distribution. In this variety, [∫] and [t∫] are variants of the same phoneme. The present study compares the perceptual behavior of English learners from northwestern Mexico, with that of learners from central Mexico, whose native dialect includes only [t∫]. The results of a word-categorization task show that both groups of learners find cheat and sheet difficult to identify in the context of each other, but that, relative to the other learner group, the group of learners in northwestern Mexico find this task to be particularly challenging. The results of a categorical discrimination task show that both learner groups find the members of the /t∫/–/∫/ contrast difficult to discriminate. On average, accuracy is lower for the group of learners in northwestern Mexico than it is for the central Mexicans. The findings suggest that the phonetic variants found in one’s native dialect modulate the perception of nonnative sounds and, consequently, that people who speak different regional varieties of the same language may face different obstacles when learning the sounds of their second language. Full article
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