The Production of New and Similar Vowels by Adult German Learners of English

The study reported in this paper examined the effect of second language (L2) experience on the production of L2 vowels for which acoustic counterparts are either present or absent in the first language (L1). The hypothesis being tested was that amount of L2 experience would not affect L1 German speakers' production of the “similar” English vowels /i, l, ∈/, whereas English language experience would enable L1 Germans to produce an English-like /æ/, which has no counterpart in German. The predictions were tested in two experiments that compared the production of English /i, l, ∈, æ/ by two groups of L1 German speakers differing in English language experience and an L1 English control group. An acoustic experiment compared the three groups for spectral and temporal characteristics of the English vowels produced in /bVt/ words. The same tokens were assessed for intelligibility in a labeling experiment. The results of both experiments were largely consistent with the hypothesis. The experienced L2 speakers did not produce the similar English vowels /i, l, ∈/ more intelligibly than the inexperienced L2 speakers, not did experience have a positive effect on approximating the English acoustic norms for these similar vowels. The intelligibility results for the new vowel /æ/ did not clearly support the model. However, the acoustic comparisons showed that the experienced but not the inexperienced L2 speakers produced the new vowel /æ/ in much the same way as the native English speakers.

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PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING OF STRESS BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS LEARNING SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263121000309 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Ramsés Ortín ◽

Miquel Simonet

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Phonological Processing ◽

First Language ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Recall Task ◽

English Speakers ◽

Auditory Stimuli ◽

L2 Learners ◽

L1 English ◽

Processing Stress

Abstract One feature of Spanish that presents some difficulties to second language (L2) learners whose first language (L1) is English concerns lexical stress. This study explores one aspect of the obstacle these learners face, weak phonological processing routines concerning stress inherited from their native language. Participants were L1 English L2 learners of Spanish. The experiment was a sequence-recall task with auditory stimuli minimally contrasting in stress (target) or segmental composition (baseline). The results suggest that learners are more likely to accurately recall sequences with stimuli contrasting in segmental composition than stress, suggesting reduced phonological processing of stress relative to a processing baseline. Furthermore, an increase in proficiency—assessed by means of grammatical and lexical tests—was found to be modestly associated with an increase in the accuracy of processing stress. We conclude that the processing routines of native English speakers lead to an acquisitional obstacle when learning Spanish as a L2.

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Variability and consistency in late bilinguals’ morphology

The Mental Lexicon ◽

10.1075/ml.18002.jes ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 186-214

Author(s):

Anna Jessen ◽

João Veríssimo ◽

Harald Clahsen

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

First Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

Control Group ◽

Brain Potentials ◽

Grammatical Morphology ◽

Frontal Negativity ◽

Complex Words ◽

L1 English ◽

Late Bilinguals

Abstract Speaking a late-learned second language (L2) is supposed to yield more variable and less consistent output than speaking one’s first language (L1), particularly with respect to reliably adhering to grammatical morphology. The current study investigates both internal processes involved in encoding morphologically complex words – by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during participants’ silent productions – and the corresponding overt output. We specifically examined compounds with plural or singular modifiers in English. Thirty-one advanced L2 speakers of English (L1: German) were compared to a control group of 20 L1 English speakers from an earlier study. We found an enhanced (right-frontal) negativity during (silent) morphological encoding for compounds produced from regular plural forms relative to compounds formed from irregular plurals, replicating the ERP effect obtained for the L1 group. The L2 speakers’ overt productions, however, were significantly less consistent than those of the L1 speakers on the same task. We suggest that L2 speakers employ the same mechanisms for morphological encoding as L1 speakers, but with less reliance on grammatical constraints than L1 speakers.

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English Speakers’ Implicit Gender Concepts Influence Their Processing of French Grammatical Gender: Evidence for Semantically Mediated Cross-Linguistic Influence

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.740920 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Elena Nicoladis ◽

Chris Westbury ◽

Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Response Time ◽

Response Times ◽

First Language ◽

Grammatical Gender ◽

Word Embedding ◽

English Speakers ◽

French Words ◽

L1 English ◽

French Gender

Second language (L2) learners often show influence from their first language (L1) in all domains of language. This cross-linguistic influence could, in some cases, be mediated by semantics. The purpose of the present study was to test whether implicit English gender connotations affect L1 English speakers’ judgments of the L2 French gender of objects. We hypothesized that gender estimates derived from word embedding models that measure similarity of word contexts in English would affect accuracy and response time on grammatical gender (GG) decision in L2 French. L2 French learners were asked to identify the GG of French words estimated to be either congruent or incongruent with the implicit gender in English. The results showed that they were more accurate with words that were congruent with English gender connotations than words that were incongruent, suggesting that English gender connotations can influence grammatical judgments in French. Response times showed the same pattern. The results are consistent with semantics-mediated cross-linguistic influence.

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ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT ON VOWEL PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE BY INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

English Review Journal of English Education ◽

10.25134/erjee.v6i1.772 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 71

Author(s):

Rudha Widagsa ◽

Ahmad Agung Yuwono Putro

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

English Language ◽

Acoustic Analysis ◽

Native Speakers ◽

First Language ◽

English Language Teaching ◽

British English ◽

Formant Frequencies ◽

English Vowels ◽

Second Formant

Indonesian is the most widely spoken language in Indonesia. More than 200 million people speak the language as a first language. However, acoustic study on Indonesian learners of English (ILE) production remains untouched. The purpose of this measurement is to examine the influence of first language (L1) on English vowels production as a second language (L2). Based on perceptual magnet hypothesis (PMH), ILE were predicted to produce close sounds to L1 English where the vowels are similar to Indonesian vowels. Acoustic analysis was conducted to measure the formant frequencies. This study involved five males of Indonesian speakers aged between 20-25 years old. The data of British English native speakers were taken from previous study by Hawkins & Midgley (2005). The result illustrates that the first formant frequencies (F1) which correlates to the vowel hight of Indonesian Learners of English were significantly different from the corresponding frequencies of British English vowels. Surprisingly, the significant differences in second formant (F2) of ILE were only in the production of /ɑ, ɒ, ɔ/ in which /ɑ/=p 0.002, /ɒ/ =p 0,001, /ɔ/ =p 0,03. The vowel space area of ILE was slightly less spacious than the native speakers. This study is expected to shed light in English language teaching particularly as a foreign language.Keywords: VSA, EFL, Indonesian learners, formant frequencies, acoustic

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Educational failure or success

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/aral.36.3.05dix ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 302-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Sally Dixon

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

First Language ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

English Speakers ◽

Standard English ◽

Students First ◽

Use Of Assessment

Within the Australian education system, Aboriginal students’ use of non-standard English features is often viewed simplistically as evidence of non-attainment of literacy and oral-English milestones. One reason for this is the widespread use of assessment tools which fail to differentiate between native- English speakers and students who are learning English as a second language. In these assessments, non-standard English features are framed as ‘mistakes’ and low scores taken as evidence of ‘poor’ performance. This paper will contrast a mistake-oriented analysis with one that incorporates knowledge of the students’ first language. It will clearly show that when consideration is given to the first language, a more nuanced picture of English proficiency emerges: one that is attuned to the specific second language learning pathway and thus far better placed to inform both assessment and classroom instruction.i

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English Nasalance Values of Chinese Learners of English

Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica ◽

10.1159/000510940 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Yilan Liu ◽

Sue Ann S. Lee

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Mandarin Chinese ◽

Language Production ◽

First Language ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Potential Effect ◽

English Speakers ◽

Chinese Speakers ◽

Chinese Learners ◽

Chinese Learners Of English

Introduction: Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate nasalance scores of speakers of different languages, little research has examined the nasalance characteristics of second language learners. Objective: The goal of the current study was to examine whether English nasalance values of Mandarin Chinese speakers are similar to those of native English speakers, examining the potential effect of the first language on the nasalance scores of the second language production. Methods: Thirty-two adults (16 Mandarin Chinese speakers and 16 native English speakers) with a normal velopharyngeal anatomy participated. Nasalance scores of various speech stimuli were obtained using a nasometer and compared between the 2 groups. Results and Conclusions: Chinese learners of English produced higher nasalance scores than native English speakers on prolonged vowel /i/ and /a/, the syllable “nin,” and non-nasal sentences and passages. The first language effect on nasalance of the second language found in the current study suggests the importance of linguistic consideration in the clinical evaluation of resonance.

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The effects of age of second language learning on the production of English vowels

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716400007967 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 313-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Murray J. Munro ◽

James Emil Flege ◽

Ian R. A. Mackay

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Foreign Accent ◽

English Speakers ◽

Correct Identification ◽

Percent Correct ◽

English Vowels

ABSTRACTThis study examined the English vowel productions of 240 native speakers of Italian who had arrived in Canada at ages ranging from 2 to 23 years and 24 native English speakers from the same community. The productions of 11 vowels were rated for degree of foreign accent by 10 listeners. An increase in perceived accentedness as a function of increasing age of arrival was observed on every vowel. Not one of the vowels was observed to be produced in a consistently native-like manner by the latest-arriving learners, even though they had been living in Canada for an average of 32 years. However, high intelligibility (percent correct identification) scores were obtained for the same set of productions. This was true even for English vowels that have no counterpart in Italian.

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Impact of Cyrillic on Native English Speakers’ Phono-lexical Acquisition of Russian

Language and Speech ◽

10.1177/0023830918761489 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 61 (4) ◽

pp. 565-576 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Catherine E. Showalter

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Word Learning ◽

Native Language ◽

First Language ◽

Native English Speakers ◽

Lexical Acquisition ◽

English Speakers ◽

Pictures And Words ◽

Lexical Learning

We investigated the influence of grapheme familiarity and native language grapheme–phoneme correspondences during second language lexical learning. Native English speakers learned Russian-like words via auditory presentations containing only familiar first language phones, pictured meanings, and exposure to either Cyrillic orthographic forms (Orthography condition) or the sequence <XXX> (No Orthography condition). Orthography participants saw three types of written forms: familiar-congruent (e.g., <KOM>-[kom]), familiar-incongruent (e.g., <PAT>-[rɑt]), and unfamiliar (e.g., <ФИЛ>-[fil]). At test, participants determined whether pictures and words matched according to what they saw during word learning. All participants performed near ceiling in all stimulus conditions, except for Orthography participants on words containing incongruent grapheme–phoneme correspondences. These results suggest that first language grapheme–phoneme correspondences can cause interference during second language phono-lexical acquisition. In addition, these results suggest that orthographic input effects are robust enough to interfere even when the input does not contain novel phones.

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Japanese English: Norm-dependency and emerging strategies

English Today ◽

10.1017/s0266078417000359 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 17-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Toshiko Yamaguchi ◽

Magnús Pétursson

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Native Speakers ◽

First Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

Short Text ◽

International Language ◽

Japanese Speakers ◽

The Status ◽

L1 English ◽

Japanese English

This paper investigates the English language spoken by four educated Japanese speakers from an acoustic phonetic perspective. We look closely at how they pronounce and connect segments in reading a short text. Because English has the status of an international language, it is actively used for various purposes within and across countries. English speakers are therefore not necessarily native speakers but have a different first language (L1); English is a second (L2) or foreign language (FL) for them. There are increasing numbers of studies on Japanese English (JE), particularly from attitudinal and perceptual angles (e.g. Tokumoto & Shibata, 2011; Matsuura et al., 2014), but, as McKenzie (2013: 228) notes, there is a dearth of research that documents, or systematically characterizes, the English produced by Japanese speakers.

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The Influence of Second Language Experience in the Pattern of Language Processing of the Bilingual Lexicon

MANUSYA ◽

10.1163/26659077-00501006 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 79-95

Author(s):

P. Sudasna ◽

S. Luksaneeyanawin ◽

D. Burnham

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

English Language ◽

First Language ◽

Language Experience ◽

High Group ◽

Bilingual Lexicon ◽

Bilingual Speakers ◽

Word Forms ◽

Thai English

The present experimental research studies whether Thai-English bilinguals’ language experience in their non-native language influences the pattern of language processing of the bilingual lexicon. Two groups of 100 native Thai bilingual speakers with high or low English language experience were asked to perform Stroop Interference Tasks, with the processing of word forms being either Thai or English and the processing in colour naming also being either Thai or English. The results showed that when the processing of word forms was in Thai, there was more intra- than interlingual interference, and that the degree of interference was equivalent between the two English experience groups. When the processing of word forms was in English, the high and the low groups showed more intra- than interlingual interference; however, the high group showed more interference than the low group did. The results provide evidence that the maximal interference occurs in the processing of the first language and the interference in the processing of the second language is proportional to L2 language experience. The results suggest that there is a relationship between language experience and language processing of the bilingual lexicon.

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