Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T11:01:15.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

English orthographic forms affect L2 English speech production in native users of a non-alphabetic writing system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2019

Mirjana Sokolović-Perović Open the ORCID record for Mirjana Sokolović-Perović [Opens in a new window] ,
Bene Bassetti Open the ORCID record for Bene Bassetti [Opens in a new window]  and
Susannah Dillon
Mirjana Sokolović-Perović*
Affiliation:
University of Reading, UK
Bene Bassetti
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham, UK
Susannah Dillon
Affiliation:
University of Reading, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Mirjana Sokolović-Perović, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is growing evidence that the orthographic forms (spellings) of second language words affect second language (L2) speech production, but it is not known whether orthography affects L2 phonology in native users of a non-alphabetic writing system. To answer this question, this study tested the effects of number of letters on the duration of consonants and vowels in the EnglishL2 speech production of Japanese–English sequential bilinguals. JapaneseL1–EnglishL2 bilinguals and English native speakers (both n = 16) performed a delayed word repetition task, producing 16 English word pairs in which the same consonant or vowel was spelled either with a single letter or with double letters, as in city-kitty. The bilinguals produced the same English sound as longer or shorter depending on the number of letters in its spelling, confirming that L2 orthographic forms affect L2 speakers’ phonological representations of L2 words even when their L1 writing system is not alphabetical.

Keywords

bilingualismspeech productionorthographic effectsL2 phonologyEnglish as a second language
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , May 2020 , pp. 591 - 601
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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

Aoyama, K, Flege, JE, Guion, S, Akahane-Yamada, R and Yamada, T (2004) Perceived phonetic dissimilarity and L2 speech learning: The case of Japanese /r/ and English /l/ and /r/. Journal of Phonetics, 32, 233–250.Google Scholar
Barr, DJ, Levy, R, Scheepers, C and Tily, HJ (2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68, 255–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassetti, B (2007) Effects of hanyu pinyin on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language. In Guder, A, Jiang, X and Wan, Y (eds), The congnition, learning and teaching of Chinese characters, Beijing, China: Beijing Language and Culture University Press, pp. 155–179.Google Scholar
Bassetti, B (2008) Orthographic input and second language phonology. In Piske, T and Young-Scholten, M (eds), Input matters in SLA, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 191–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassetti, B (2017) Orthography affects second language speech: Double letters and geminate production in English. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43, 1835–1842. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000417Google ScholarPubMed
Bassetti, B and Atkinson, N (2015) Effects of orthographic forms on pronunciation in experienced instructed second language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 67–91. doi: 10.1017/S0142716414000435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassetti, B, Escudero, P and Hayes-Harb, R (2015) Second language phonology at the interface between acoustic and orthographic input. In Hayes-Harb, R, Bassetti, B and Escudero, P (eds), Orthographic effects in second langauge phonology, Special Issue. Applied Psycholinguistics (Vol. 36, pp. 1–6).Google Scholar
Bassetti, B, Sokolović-Perović, M, Mairano, P and Cerni, T (2018) Orthography-induced length contrasts in the second language phonological systems of L2 speakers of English: Evidence from minimal pairs. Language and Speech, 61, 577–597, doi: 10.1177/0023830918780141.Google ScholarPubMed
Boersma, P and Weenink, D (2012) Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program], Version 5.3.13 (retrieved April 11, 2012 from http://www.praat.org/).Google Scholar
Brown, CA (1998) The role of the L1 grammar in the L2 acquisition of segmental structure. Second Language Research, 14, 136–193.Google Scholar
Carney, E (1994) A survey of English spelling, Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clark, J and Yallop, C (1995) An introduction to phonetics and phonology, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Cohen, J, MacWhinney, B, Flatt, M and Provost, J (1993) PsyScope: An interactive graphic system for designing and controlling experiments in the psychology laboratory using Macintosh computers. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 25, 257–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, VJ (2002) Background to the L2 user. In Cook, VJ (ed), Portraits of the L2 user, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, (pp. 1–28).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coulmas, F (2003) Writing systems: An introduction to their linguistic analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davidson, L (2010) Phonetic bases of similarities in cross-language production: Evidence from English and Catalan. Journal of Phonetics, 38, 272–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Detey, S and Nespoulous, JL (2008) Can orthography influence second language syllabic segmentation? Japanese epenthetic vowels and French consonantal clusters. Lingua, 118, 66–81. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2007.04.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupoux, E, Kakehi, K, Hirose, Y, Pallier, C and Mehler, J (1999) Epenthetic vowels in Japanese: A perceptual illusion? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 1568–1578.Google Scholar
Erdener, VD and Burnham, DK (2005) The role of audiovisual speech and orthographic information in nonnative speech production. Language Learning, 55, 191–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P (2015) Orthography plays a limited role when learning the phonological forms of new words: The case of Spanish and English learners of novel Dutch words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 7–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P, Hayes-Harb, R and Mitterer, H (2008) Novel second-language words and asymmetric lexical access. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 345–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P, Simon, E and Mulak, KE (2014) Learning words in a new language: Orthography doesn't always help. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17, 384–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escudero, P and Wanrooij, K (2010) The effect of L1 orthography on non-native vowel perception. Language and Speech, 53, 343–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flege, JE, Munro, MJ and MacKay, IRA (1995) Factors affecting strength of perceived foreign accent in a second language. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97, 3125–3134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foulkes, P, Docherty, G and Jones, M (2010) Analysing stops. In Di Paolo, M and Yaeger-Dror, M (eds), Sociophonetics: a student's guide, London: Routledge, pp. 58–71.Google Scholar
Foulkes, P and Docherty, GJ (2006) The social life of phonetics and phonology. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 409–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes-Harb, R and Cheng, H.-W (2016) The Influence of the pinyin and zhuyin writing systems on the acquisition of Mandarin word forms by native English speakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 7: 785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes-Harb, R, Nicol, J and Barker, J (2010) Learning the phonological forms of new words: Effects of orthographic and auditory input. Language and Speech, 53, 367–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillenbrand. (1995) Acoustic characteristics of American English vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97, 3099–3111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirata, Y (2004) Effects of speaking rate on the vowel length distinction in Japanese. Journal of Phonetics, 32, 565–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirata, Y and Tsukada, K (2009) Effects of speaking rate and vowel length on formant frequency displacement in Japanese. Phonetica, 66, 129–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirata, Y and Whiton, J (2005) Effects of speaking rate on the single/geminate stop distinction in Japanese. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118, 1647–1660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Højsgaard, S and Halekoh, U (2016) doBy: Groupwise Statistics, LSmeans, Linear Contrasts, Utilities. R package version 4.5-15. Retrieved from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=doBy.Google Scholar
Idemaru, K and Guion, SG (2008) Acoustic covariants of length contrast in Japanese stops. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38, 167–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, M (2011) Loanwords in Japanese, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawagoe, I (2015) The phonology of sokuon, or geminate obstruents. In Kubozono, H (ed), Handbook of Japanese phonetics and phonology, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 79–119.Google Scholar
Kawahara, S (2015) The phonetics of sokuon, or geminate obstruents. In Kubozono, H (ed), Handbook of Japanese phonetics and phonology, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 43–77.Google Scholar
Keating, PA, Linker, W and Huffman, M (1983) Patterns in allophone distribution for voiced and voiceless stops. Journal of Phonetics, 11, 277–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K (2005) Learning to read across writing systems: Transfer, metalinguistic awareness, and second-language reading development. In Cook, VJ and Bassetti, B (eds), Second language writing systems, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 311–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K (2007) Reading and language learning: Crosslinguistic constraints on second language reading development. Language Learning, 57 (Supplement 1), 1–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kondaurova, MV and Francis, AL (2010) The role of selective attention in the acquisition of English tense and lax vowels by native Spanish listeners: comparison of three training methods. Journal of Phonetics, 38, 569–587. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2010.08.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kubozono, H (2015a) Intoduction to Japanese phonetics and phonology. In Kubozono, H (ed), Handbook of Japanese Phonetics and Phonology, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 1–40.Google Scholar
Kubozono, H (2015b) Loanword phonology. In Kubozono, H (ed), Handbook of Japanese Phonetics and Phonology, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 313–361.Google Scholar
Kuznetsova, A, Brockhoff, PB and Christensen, RHB (2016) lmerTest: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Retrieved from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lmerTest.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laburne, L (2012) The phonology of Japanese Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P and Johnson, K (2011) A course in phonetics (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage.Google Scholar
Laver, J (1994) Principles of phonetics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, KKW, Jongman, A, Wang, Y and Sereno, JA (2016) Acoustic characteristics of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140, 45–58. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4954737CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muneaux, M and Ziegler, J (2004) Locus of orthographic effects in spoken word recognition: Novel insights from the neighbour generation task. Language and cognitive processes, 19, 641–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nimz, K (2016) Sound perception and production in a foreign language. Does orthography matter? Universitätsverlag Potsdam, Germany.Google Scholar
Okada, H (1999) Japanese, Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119.Google Scholar
Okada, T (2005) Spelling errors made by Japanese EFL writers: With reference to errors occurring at the word-initial and the word-final position. In Cook, VJ and Bassetti, B (eds), Second language writing systems, Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 164–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okada, T (2015) Japanese uses of the English writing system: A case study. In Cook, VJ and Ryan, D (eds), The Routledge Handbook of the English Writing System, Oxford, UK: Routledge, pp. 399–415.Google Scholar
Otaka, H (2009) Phonetics and phonology of moras, feet, and geminate consonants in Japanese, Plimouth, UK: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Otake, T (2015) Mora and mora-timing. In Kubozono, H (ed), Handbook of Japanese phonetics and phonology, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 493–523.Google Scholar
Peterson, GE and Barney, HL (1952) Control methods used in a study of the vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 24, 175–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, GE and Lehiste, I (1960) Duration of syllable nuclei in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 32, 693–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piske, T, Flege, JE, MacKay, IRA and Meador, D (2002) The production of English vowels by fluent early and late Italian-English bilinguals. Phonetica, 59, 49–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pytlyk, C (2011) Shared orthography: Do shared written symbols influence the perception of L2 sounds? The Modern Language Journal, 95, 541–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team. (2016) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
Rafat, Y (2016) Orthography-induced transfer in the production of English-speaking learners of Spanish. The Language Learning Journal, 44, 197–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rastle, K, McCormick, SF, Bayliss, L and Davis, CJ (2011) Orthography influences the perception and production of speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 1588–1594. doi: 10.1037/a0024833Google Scholar
Roach, P (2004) British English: Received Pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34, 239–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RStudio Team. (2015) RStudio: Integrated development for R. Boston, MA: RStudio Inc. Retrieved from http://www.rstudio.com.Google Scholar
Sheldon, A and Strange, W (1982) The acquisition of /r/ and /l/ by Japanese learners of English: Evidence that speech production can precede speech perception. Applied Psycholinguistics, 3, 243–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Showalter, CE (2018) Impact of Cyrillic on native English speakers’ phono-lexical acquisition of Russian. Language and Speech, 61, 565–576. doi: 10.1177/0023830918761489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Showalter, CE and Hayes-Harb, R (2013) Unfamiliar orthographic information and second language word learning: A novel lexicon study. Second Language Research, 29, 185–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Showalter, CE and Hayes-Harb, R (2015) Native English speakers learning Arabic: The influence of novel orthographic information on second language phonological acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 23–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, E, Chambless, D and Alves, UK (2010) Understanding the role of orthography in the acquisition of a non-native vowel contrast. Language Sciences, 32, 380–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonchyk, A and Darcy, I (2018) The effect of orthography on the lexical encoding of palatalized consonants in L2 Russian. Language and Speech, 61, 522–546. doi: 10.1177/0023830918761490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swan, M and Smith, B (eds), (2001) Learner English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems, Cambridge, UK: CUP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taft, M (2006) Orthographically influenced abstract phonological representation: Evidence from non-rhotic speakers. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 35, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsukada, K (2009a) An acoustic comparison of vowel length contrasts in Arabic, Japanese and Thai: Durational and spectral data. International Journal on Asian Language Processing, 19, 127–138.Google Scholar
Tsukada, K (2009b) Durational characteristics of English vowels produced by Japanese and Thai second language (L2) Learners. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 29, 287–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turk, A, Nakai, S and Sugahara, M (2006) Acoustic segment durations in prosodic research: a practical guide. In Sudhoff, S, Lenertova, D, Meyer, R, Pappert, S, Augurzky, P, Mleinek, I, Richter, N and Schlieser, J (eds), Methods in empirical prosody research, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, pp. 1–28.Google Scholar
Ueyama, M (2000) Prosodic transfer: An acoustic study of L2 English vs. L2 Japanese, University of California Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Ueyama, M (2003) Duration and Quality in the Production of the Vowel Length Contrast in L2 English and L2 Japanese, Paper presented at the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Barcelona.Google Scholar
Vokic, G (2011) When alphabets collide: Alphabetic first-language speakers’ approach to speech production in an alphabetic second language. Second Language Research, 27, 391–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wickham, H (2009) ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis, New York: Spinger-Verlag. Retrieved from http://ggplot2.org.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, D and Escudero, P (2014) A cross-dialectal acoustic comparison of vowels in Northern and Southern British English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136, 2751–2761. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4896471CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young-Scholten, M (2002) Orthographic input in L2 phonological development. In Burmeister, P, Piske, T and Rohde, A (eds), An integrated view of language development: Papers in honour of Henning Wode, pp. 263–279. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar
Young-Scholten, M and Langer, M (2015) The role of orthographic input in second language German: Evidence from naturalistic adult learners’ production. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 93–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampini, ML (1994) The role of native language transfer and task formality in the acquisition of Spanish spirantization. Hispania, 77, 470–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Sokolović-Perović et al. supplementary material

Appendix
Download Sokolović-Perović et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 277.1 KB