The Acquisition of English Word-Final Consonants by Cantonese ESL Learners in Hong Kong

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Y.W. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word List ◽  
English Word ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
Second Language Phonology ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
Esl Learners

AbstractThis study investigates the acquisition of English word-final consonants by Hong Kong Cantonese learners of English as a second language and assesses the validity of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis for second language phonology acquisition by these learners. Twelve participants and three native speakers performed four speech tasks: reading a word list, reading three passages, describing pictures, and participating in a conversational interview. The results show that: (i) word-finally, more non-target laterals were produced than voiceless obstruents; and (ii) non-target productions of voiced obstruents were the highest. We argue that the Markedness Differential Hypothesis does not explain the acquisition of English word-final singleton consonants by Cantonese ESL learners in Hong Kong. We conclude that markedness alone cannot be used as a predictor for the relative difficulty of acquiring the target segments of a second language.

Using lexical indices to predict produced and not produced words in second language learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Crossley ◽  
Tom Salsbury
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word List ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Knowledge ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Discriminant Function Analyses

The paper explores how linguistic indices related to lexical networks and psycholinguistic models of lexical knowledge can be used to predict produced and not produced words in second language (L2) speakers. Two hypotheses are tested in this study. The first addresses how lexical properties thought to be important in word knowledge interrelate with word production. The second addresses which lexical properties are most predictive of word production. To test these hypotheses, a set of 45 frequent nouns and verbs produced by L2 learners were collected. A comparison word list of 45 frequent nouns and verbs produced by native speakers, but not found in the L2 data set were also collected. Polysemy and hypernymy values from the WordNet database along with word meaningfulness, concreteness, familiarity, and imagability values from the MRC Psycholinguistic Database and frequency values from SUBTLEXus were collected for each word. ANOVA analyses of variance and discriminant function analyses were conducted for each data set to examine which lexical indices discriminated between produced and not produced words and how these indices interrelated. The results of the noun analysis indicate that produced nouns are more frequent, more meaningful, and more familiar than not produced nouns. Results from the verb analysis show that produced verbs are more frequent, more meaningful, less specific, and more familiar than not produced verbs. These findings provide evidence for the importance of word properties in lexical production.

FORM–MEANING MAPPING IN VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
English Word ◽  
Nonnative English Speakers ◽  
Semantic Judgment

The mapping of lexical form to meaning is an important part of vocabulary acquisition in a second language (L2). This study examines the proposition that L2 lexical forms are often mapped to the existing semantic content of their first language (L1) translations rather than to new semantic specifications of their own. Native and nonnative English speakers were asked to perform two semantic judgment tasks in which they had to determine the degree of semantic relatedness of English word pairs (experiment 1) or to decide whether two English words were related in meaning (experiment 2). The nonnative speakers, but not the native speakers, were found to provide higher rating scores on or responded faster to L2 word pairs sharing the same L1 translations than to L2 word pairs that do not. The finding is interpreted as strong evidence in support of the presence of L1 semantic content in L2 lexical entries.

Development of sensitivity to phonological context in learning to spell in English

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadya Dich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Word ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Word Spelling ◽  
L1 And L2

The study attempts to investigate factors underlying the development of spellers’ sensitivity to phonological context in English. Native English speakers and Russian speakers of English as a second language (ESL) were tested on their ability to use information about the coda to predict the spelling of vowels in English monosyllabic nonwords. In addition, the study assessed the participants’ spelling proficiency as their ability to correctly spell commonly misspelled words (Russian participants were assessed in both Russian and English). Both native and non-native English speakers were found to rely on the information about the coda when spelling vowels in nonwords. In both native and non-native speakers, context sensitivity was predicted by English word spelling; in Russian ESL speakers this relationship was mediated by English proficiency. L1 spelling proficiency did not facilitate L2 context sensitivity in Russian speakers. The results speak against a common factor underlying different aspects of spelling proficiency in L1 and L2 and in favor of the idea that spelling competence comprises different skills in different languages.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE UNMARKED IN SECOND LANGUAGE PHONOLOGY

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Broselow ◽  
Su-I Chen ◽  
Chilin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Second Language Phonology

This paper discusses the simplification of forms ending in obstruents by native speakers of Mandarin, in particular two effects that are not obviously motivated by either the native- or the target-language grammars: a tendency to devoice final voiced obstruents and a tendency to maximize the number of bisyllabic forms in the output. These patterns are accounted for within Optimality Theory, which describes a grammar as a set of universal, ranked constraints. It is argued that the devoicing and bisyllabicity effects result from universal markedness constraints that are present in all grammars but that are masked in the learner's native-language grammar by the effects of higher ranking constraints.

scholarly journals Input and Acquisition in Second Language Classrooms

1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patsy M. Lightbown
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Classroom Language ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Esl Learners

In the speech of a group of francophone ESL learners, we examined introducer forms used to initiate picture descriptions. We then compared the learners' use of these forms to the corresponding forms in the classroom language the learners were exposed to-textbook language, the students' own classroom language, and their teachers' language. We also compared the learners' use of introducers to that of native speakers performing the same task. Some of the non-target-like characteristics of the learners' language were found to correspond to characteristics of the input they received.

The functional roles of lexical devices in second language learners’ encoding of temporality: A study of Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ma ◽  
Gita Martohardjono ◽  
William McClure
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Past Time ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Esl Learners

AbstractThe present study investigates the functional roles of two lexical devices, past-time temporal adverbials and frequency adverbs, in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of temporality in their English interlanguage. The results of the present study indicate that past-time temporal adverbials are facilitative in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of past time. Meanwhile, the existence/absence of the matrix agreement, which is a linguistic device that has not been discussed in previous studies, may also lead to learners’ different reactions. The results of the present study also show that the introduction of frequency adverbs is associated with a higher usage rate of the present tense and causes more difficulty in a past tense context. This association is found to exist not only in learners’ data, but also in English native speakers’ data. The present study contributes to our understanding of the development of second language learners’ expression of temporal locations and relations.

Determinants of cue strength in adult first and second language speakers of French

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet L. McDonald ◽  
L. Kathy Heilenman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Word ◽  
Error Model ◽  
Semantic Cues ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Order Preference

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the determinants of adult usage of various syntactic and semantic cues in sentence interpretation. Native French speakers and advanced English/French bilinguals were tested for the strength of usage of word order, clitic pronoun agreement, verb agreement, and noun animacy cues in the assignment of the actor role in French sentences. Native speakers showed strong use of clitic pronoun agreement, followed by much weaker use of verb agreement, an even weaker use of noun animacy, and negligible use of word order. This ranking reflects the importance of these cues in naturally occurring French sentences involving conflicts among cues in conjunction with a learning-on-error model. The English/French bilinguals did not manifest English-like strategies of word order preference on the French sentences; rather, they showed a cue ranking very similar to that of native speakers, although detectability may have played a role in their use of verb agreement. The failure of English word order strategies to correctly interpret many naturally occurring French sentences may be responsible for the adaptation of strategies appropriate to the second language.

Optimality in second language phonology: codas in Thai ESL

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Hancin-Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Second Language Phonology ◽  
Esl Learners

This study presents an Optimality Theoretic account of syllable codas in Thai ESL. To date, there is little research in the literature on the study of codas, and Thai ESL presents an interesting test case since Thai has a more restrictive set of constraints on what can occur syllable-finally than does English. Thai ESL learners thus need to resolve the conflict between what they know (their first language or L1) and what they are learning (their second language or L2 grammar). Optimality Theory provides the mechanisms to understand how this phonological conflict is resolved,and in what ways. The main findings of this study are that the native language constraint rankings interact with target constraint rankings in a specific way, allowing a restricted and predictable range of production types by intermediate Thai learners of ESL. The study argues that constraint rerankings occur in an ordered fashion:the constraints on which segments can appear in codas (CODA-AC) re-rank before the constraint disallowing complex codas (*COMPLEX), thereby correctly defining the observed stages in ESL coda development.

The acquisition of a second language phonology: Interaction of transfer and developmental factors

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Frant Hecht ◽  
Randa Mulford
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
Second Language Phonology ◽  
Developmental Factors ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Naturalistic Setting ◽  
Child Learning

ABSTRACTThe acquisition of a second language phonology is examined with reference to two hypotheses: (1) the developmental position that second language phonology acquisition parallels first language acquisition versus (2) the transfer position that the learner’s phonological knowledge in the first language directly influences acquisition of a second language phonology. These two hypotheses are evaluated in light of data from a six-year-old Icelandic child learning English in a naturalistic setting, with particular emphasis on fricatives and affricates. This child’s phonological acquisition is best accounted for as a systematicinteractionbetween transfer from the first language and developmental processes. Transfer best predicts the relative difficulty of particular segments, while the developmental hypothesis best predicts which sounds will be substituted for those difficult segments.

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