Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:05:42.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining individual variation in L2 perception: Rounded vowels in English learners of German

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2010

ROBERT MAYR  and
PAOLA ESCUDERO
ROBERT MAYR*
Affiliation:
University of Wales Institute Cardiff
PAOLA ESCUDERO
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Robert Mayr, Centre for Speech and Language Therapy, Cardiff School of Health Sciences, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Llandaff Campus, Cardiff CF5 2YB, South Wales, UK [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most empirical research in L2 vowel perception focuses on the development of groups of learners. However, recent studies indicate that individual learners' developmental paths in L2 vowel perception may not be uniform (e.g., Escudero, 2001; Escudero and Boersma, 2004; Morrison, 2009). The aim of the present study is to add to this line of research by investigating (1) whether individual English learners of German follow different paths in their perceptual development of six rounded German vowels, and (2) whether the observed patterns are explicable on the basis of Escudero's (2005) Second-Language Linguistic Perception (L2LP) model. A cross-language perceptual assimilation experiment revealed that learners’ assimilation of L2 sounds to native categories is indeed highly diverse, yet systematic. Importantly, these cross-language mapping patterns largely predict the learners’ further development in L2 vowel perception, as assessed in a forced-choice identification task. Implications for explanatory frameworks in second-language speech research are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 279 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antoniadis, Z. & Strube, H. W. (1984). Untersuchungen zur spezifischen Dauer deutscher Vokale. Phonetica, 41, 72–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aoyama, K., Flege, J. E., Guion, S. G., Akahane-Yamada, R. & Yamada, T. (2004). Perceived phonetic dissimilarity and L2 speech learning: /ʳ/ and English /ˡ/ and /ʳ/. Journal of Phonetics, 32, 233–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battistella, E. L. (1990). Markedness: the evaluative superstructure of language. New York: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Best, C. T. (1994). The emergence of native-language phonological influences in infants: a perceptual assimilation model. In Goodman, J. & Nusbaum, H. (eds.), The development of speech perception: the transition from speech sounds to spoken words, pp. 167–224. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Best, C. T. (1995). A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception. In Strange, W. (ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research, pp. 171–204. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Best, C. T. & Tyler, M. D. (2007). Nonnative and second-language speech perception: commonalities and complementarities. In Bohn, O.-S. & Munro, M. (eds.), Language experience in second-language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege, pp. 13–34. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (1992). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition. Language, 68, 706–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2003). Authenticité de prononciation en français L2 chez les apprenants tardifs anglophones: analyses segmentales et globales. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère, 18, 17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2004). PRAAT: Doing Phonetics by Computer. Version 4.2. Institute of Phonetic Sciences, University of Amsterdam. URL: http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/Google Scholar
Bohn, O.-S. & Flege, J. E. (1990). Interlingual identification and the role of foreign language experience in L2 vowel perception. Applied Psycholinguistics, 11, 303–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, O.-S. & Flege, J. E. (1992). The production of new and similar vowels by adult German learners of English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14, 131–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, O.-S. & Flege, J. E. (1997). Perception and production of a new vowel category by adult second language learners. In James, A. & Leather, J. (eds.), Second-language speech: structure and process, pp. 53–73. Berlin, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, O.-S. & Polka, L. (2001). Target spectral, dynamic spectral, and temporal cues in infant perception of German vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110, 504–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bongaerts, T. (1999). Ultimate attainment in L2 pronunciation: the case of very advanced late L2 learners. In Birdsong, D. (ed.), Second language acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis, pp. 133–160. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bongaerts, T., Mennen, S. & Van der Slik, F. (2000). Authenticity of pronunciation in naturalistic second language acquisition: the case of very advanced late learners of Dutch as a second language. Studia Linguistica, 54, 298–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bongaerts, T., Van Summeren, C., Planken, B. & Schils, E. (1997). Age and ultimate attainment in the pronunciation of a foreign language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 447–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broselow, E., Chen, S.-I. & Wang, C. (1998). The emergence of the unmarked in second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 261–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broselow, E. & Park, H.-B. (1995). Mora conservation in second-language prosody. In Archibald, J. (ed.), Phonological acquisition and phonological theory, pp. 151–168. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Carlisle, R. S. (1994). Markedness and environment as internal constraints on the variability of interlanguage phonology. In Yavas, M. (ed.), First and second language phonology, pp. 223–249. San Diego, CA: Singular.Google Scholar
Carlisle, R. S. (1998). The acquisition of onsets in a markedness relationship: a longitudinal study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 245–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, R. S. (1999). The modification of onsets in a markedness relationship: testing the Interlanguage Structural Conformity Hypothesis. Language Learning, 49 (suppl. 1), 59–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cebrian, J. (2006). Experience and the use of duration in the categorization of L2 vowels. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 372–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, L. (2006). Phonology, phonetics, or frequency: influences on the production of non-native sequences. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 104–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deterding, D. (1997). The formants of monophthong vowels in Standard Southern British English pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 27, 47–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckman, F. R. (1977). Markedness and the contrastive analysis hypothesis. Language Learning, 27, 317–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckman, F. R. (1987). Markedness and the contrastive analysis hypothesis. In Ioup, G. & Weinberger, S. H. (eds.), Interlanguage phonology: the acquisition of a second language sound system, pp. 55–69. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
Eckman, F. R. (1991). The Structural Conformity Hypothesis and the acquisition of consonant clusters in the interlanguage of ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 23–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P. (2001). The role of the input in the development of L1 and L2 sound contrasts: language-specific cue weighting for vowels. In Do, A. H.-J., Dominguez, L. & Johansen, A. (eds.), Proceedings of the 25th annual Boston University conference on language development, pp. 250–261. Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Escudero, P. (2005). Linguistic perception and second language acquisition: explaining the attainment of optimal phonological categorization. Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University: LOT Dissertation Series 113.Google Scholar
Escudero, P. (2009). Linguistic perception of similar L2 sounds. In Boersma, P. & Hamann, S. (eds.), Phonology in perception, pp. 151–190. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P. & Boersma, P. (2002). The subset problem in L2 perceptual development: multiple-category assimilation by Dutch learners of Spanish. In Skarabela, B., Fish, S. & Do, A. H.-J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 26th annual Boston University conference on language development, pp. 208–219. Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Escudero, P. & Boersma, P. (2004). Bridging the gap between L2 speech perception research and phonological theory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 551–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P., Hayes-Harb, R. & Mitterer, H. (2008). Novel L2 words and asymmetric lexical access. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 345–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, B. & Iverson, P. (2004). Vowel normalization for accent: An investigation of best exemplar locations in northern and southern British English sentences. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115, 352–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, B. & Iverson, P. (2007). Plasticity in vowel perception and production: A study of accent change in young adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 3814–3826.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flege, J. E. (1987). The production of new and similar phones in a foreign language: evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. Journal of Phonetics, 15, 47–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1991). Age of learning affects the authenticity of voice-onset time (VOT) in stop consonants produced in a second language. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89, 395–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: theory, findings, and problems. In Strange, W. (ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research, pp. 233–277. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (2002). Interactions between the native and second-language phonetic systems. In Burmeister, P., Piske, T. & Rohde, A. (eds.), An integrated view of language development: Papers in honor of Henning Wode, pp. 217–243. Trier, Germany: WVT.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (2003). Assessing constraints on second-language segmental production and perception. In Meyer, A. & Schiller, N. (eds.), Phonetics and phonology in language comprehension and production, pp. 319–355. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J., Birdsong, D., Bialystok, E., Mack, M., Sung, H. & Tsukada, K. (2006). Degree of foreign accent in English sentences produced by Korean children and adults. Journal of Phonetics, 33, 153–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., Bohn, O.-S. & Jang, S. (1997). Effects of experience on nonnative speakers’ production and perception of English vowels. Journal of Phonetics, 25, 437–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E. & MacKay, I. R. A. (2004). Perceiving vowels in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., Munro, M. & MacKay, I. R. A. (1995). Effects of age of second-language learning on the production of English consonants. Speech Communication, 16, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H. & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 41, 78–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, A. L., Giocca, V., Ma, L. & Fenn, K. (2008). Perceptual learning of Cantonese lexical tones by tone and non-tone language speakers. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 268–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottfried, T. & Suiter, T. (1997). Effects of linguistic experience on the identification of Mandarin Chinese vowels and tones. Journal of Phonetics, 25, 207–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1989). Neurolinguists beware! The bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person. Brain and Language, 36, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1997). Processing mixed language: issues, findings and models. In de Groot, A. & Kroll, J. (eds.), Tutorials in bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives, pp. 225–254. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2001). The bilingual's language modes. In Nicol, J. (ed.), One mind, two languages: bilingual language processing, pp. 1–22. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Guion, S., Flege, J. E., Akahane-Yamada, R. & Pruitt, J. (2000). An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: the case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107, 2711–2724.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, S. & Midgley, J. (2005). Formant frequencies of RP monophthongs in four age groups of speakers. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35, 183–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, A. S. (1961). On vowel duration in English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 33, 1174–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, E. (2004). Deconstructing markedness: a predictability-based approach. Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistic Society, 30, 182–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingram, J. & Park, S. G. (1997). Cross-language vowel perception and production by Japanese and Korean learners of English. Journal of Phonetics, 25, 343–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacewicz, E. (2002). The perception-production relationship in the acquisition of second language vowel contrasts. Journal of Language and Linguistics, 1, 314–337.Google Scholar
Jared, D. & Kroll, J. F. (2001). Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 2–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jilka, M. (2007). Different manifestations and perceptions of foreign accent in intonation. In Trouvain, J. & Gut, U. (eds.), Non-native prosody: phonetic description and teaching practice, pp. 76–96. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, H. P. (1969). Die gespannten und ungespannten Vokale in der norddeutschen Hochsprache mit einer spezifischen Untersuchung der Struktur ihrer Formantenfrequenzen. Phonetica, 19, 217–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khattab, G. (2002). /ˡ/ production in English-Arabic speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 6, 335–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, J. (2003). Learning foreign vowels. Language & Speech, 46, 295–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Leather, J. (1997). Interrelation of perceptual and productive learning in the initial acquisition of second-language tone. In James, A. & Leather, J. (eds.), Second-language speech: structure and process, pp. 75–101. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKay, I. R. A., Flege, J. E. & Imai, S. (2006). Evaluating the effects of chronological age and sentence duration on degree of perceived foreign accent. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 157–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Major, R. C. (2001) Foreign accent: the ontogeny and phylogeny of second language phonology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, R. (2005). The perception and production of German monophthongs by British learners of German. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Mayr, R. & Escudero, P. (in preparation). The effects of individual variation in L1 vowel production on L2 perception and production.Google Scholar
Mora, J. (2008). Learning context effects on the acquisition of a second language phonology. In Perez-Vidal, C., Juan-Garan, M. & Bel, A. (eds.) A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain, pp. 241–263. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Morrison, G. S. (2008). L1 Spanish speakers’ acquisition of the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast: duration-based perception is not the initial developmental stage. Language & Speech, 51, 285–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, G. S. (2009). L1 Spanish speakers’ acquisition of the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast II: perception of vowel inherent spectral change. Language and Speech, 52, 437–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moyer, A. (1999). Ultimate attainment in L2 phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 81–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moyer, A. (2004). Age, accent and experience in second language acquisition. Clevedon et al.: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piske, T., MacKay, I. R. A. & Flege, J. E. (2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: a review. Journal of Phonetics, 29, 191–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polka, L. (1995). Linguistic influences in adult perception of non-native vowel contrasts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97, 1286–1296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polka, L. & Bohn, O.-S. (1996). A cross-language comparison of vowel perception in English-learning and German-learning infants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 100, 577–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, K. (2000). Featural Markedness in Phonology: Variation. GLOT, 4 (7), 3–6/ 4 (8), 3–7.Google Scholar
Rochet, B. (1995). Perception and production of second-language speech sounds by adults. In Strange, W. (ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research, pp. 379–410. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/ Full Access model. Second Language Research, 12, 40–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stampe, D. (1969). The acquisition of phonetic representation. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Stampe, D. (1979). A dissertation on Natural Phonology. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Strange, W., Bohn, O.-S., Nishi, K. & Trent, S. A. (2005). Contextual variation in the acoustic and perceptual similarity of North German and American English vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118, 1751–1762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strange, W., Bohn, O. S., Trent, S. A., McNair, M. C. & Bielec, K. C. (1996). Context and speaker effects in the perceptual assimilation of German vowels by American listeners. Proceedings of the 4th international congress on spoken language processing (ICSLP-96), pp. 2462–2465. University of Delaware and A.I. Du Pont Institute, Philadelphia, October 3–6 1996.Google Scholar
Strange, W., Bohn, O.-S., Trent, S. A. & Nishi, K. (2004a). Acoustic and perceptual similarity of North German and American English vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115, 1791–1807.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strange, W., Levy, E. & Lehnholf, R. (2004b). Perceptual assimilation of French and German vowels by American English monolinguals: acoustic similarity does not predict perceptual similarity. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115, 2606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English II: the British Isles. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Whitworth, N. (2003). Bilingual acquisition of speech timing: aspects of rhythm production by German-English families. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds.Google Scholar
Zobl, H. (1980). The formal and developmental selectivity of L1 influence on L2 acquisition. Language Learning, 30, 43–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar