Native Language Phonological Skills in Low-Proficiency Second Language Learners

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Borodkin ◽  
Miriam Faust
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Phonological Skills

scholarly journals The L2-acquisition of the German particle doch

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Hogeweg ◽  
Helen de Hoop ◽  
Stefanie Ramachers ◽  
Frans van der Slik ◽  
Verena Wottrich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Discourse Particles

AbstractDiscourse particles are notoriously difficult to acquire for second language learners. It has been argued that this difficulty is caused by a lack of equivalent concepts in the learner’s native language. In this article we compare the acquisition of the German particle

scholarly journals Phoneme acquisition: Infants and second language learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
James Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Model ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Phoneme Perception ◽  
Infant Language ◽  
Perception Training

This paper argues for explicit phoneme perception training. It discusses infant phoneme acquisition studies and relates these studies to second language learners. The first half of the article is an account of infant language acquisition studies and uses the Native Language Model, as developed by Patricia Kuhl, to conceptualize an infant’s phoneme acquisition process. The second half of this paper deals with what L1 phoneme acquisition means for adult second language learners. Three questions are addressed: First, to what extent can L2 learners’ perceptual patterns be modified after the initial neural commitment? Second, is phonemic training with adult learners worthwhile? And, third, what methodologies are the most effective for modifying an L2 learner’s initial L1 phoneme structure? The techniques discussed are contrastive exposure, making the phoneme salient, and high-variability. 本論は、明示的に行う音素認識トレーニングについて論じる。乳幼児の音素習得研究を論議し、これらの研究を第2言語学習者に関連づける。前半は乳幼児の言語習得研究の説明において、Patricia Kuhlの乳幼児の音素習得プロセスを概念したNative Language Magnet Theoryを用いている。後半では、乳幼児の第１言語音素習得が大人である第2言語学習者にどのような意味を持つのかを述べる。次の3点を検討する。1）第2言語学習者の音素認識パターンは、第1言語でのパターンが確立した後、どの程度修正されることができるのか。2）大人の学習者に対する音素認識トレーニングは価値があるのか。3）第2言語学習者における第１言語の音素構造を修正するには、どのような方法が最も効果的なのか。論議されている手法は、音素を際立たせ、高い変動性をもたらす対照提示である。

Mimicry of Non-distinctive Phonetic Differences Between Language Varieties

1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Emil Flege ◽  
Robert M. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Tentative Evidence ◽  
Accented English ◽  
Final Syllable

A delayed mimicry paradigm was used to assess speakers′ awareness of non-distinctive phonetic differences which in part distinguish languages. The notion of “phonological filtering” implies that second language learners may not be able to perceive phonetic differences between their native language and a foreign language unless the phonetic differences are linguistically relevant in the native language. If cross-language phonetic differences are in fact perceived poorly, it is unlikely that phonetic modification will occur in the course of naturalistic second language acquisition. In this study native English speakers familiar with Spanish-accented English attempted to read sentences with a Spanish accent. Acoustic measurements showed that two phonetic characteristics of English—the long VOT values associated with /p, t, k/ and final-syllable lengthening—were altered in the direction of Spanish and Spanish-accented English. These results provide tentative evidence that non-distinctive phonetic differences between languages are detectable by language learners and thus donotpresent an insuperable barrier to phonetic learning in second language acquisition.

scholarly journals An Ear And Eye For Language: Mechanisms Underlying Second Language Word Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Marie-Josée Bisson ◽  
Anuenue Kukona ◽  
Angelos Lengeris
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Intentional Learning ◽  
Large Vocabulary ◽  
In The Wild

Abstract To become fluent in a second language, learners need to acquire a large vocabulary. However, the cognitive and affective mechanisms that support word learning, particularly among second language learners, are only beginning to be understood. Prior research has focused on intentional learning and small artificial lexicons. In the current study investigating the sources of individual variability in word learning and their underlying mechanisms, participants intentionally and incidentally learned a large vocabulary of Welsh words (i.e., emulating word learning in the wild) and completed a large battery of cognitive and affective measures. The results showed that, for both learning conditions, native language knowledge, auditory/phonological abilities and orthographic sensitivity all made unique contributions to word learning. Importantly, short-term/working memory played a significantly larger role in intentional learning. We discuss these results in the context of the mechanisms that support both native and non-native language learning.

Markedness and Second Language Acquisition

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia White
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Double Object Construction ◽  
Object Construction ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
The Difference

In this paper, various definitions of markedness are discussed, including the difference in the assumptions underlying psychological and linguistic approaches to markedness. It is proposed that if one adopts a definition derived from theories of language learnability, then the second language learner's prior linguistic experience may predispose him or her towards transferring marked structures from the first language to the second, contrary to usual assumptions in the literature that suggest that second language learners will avoid marked forms. To test this hypothesis, adult and child learners of French as a second language were tested using grammaticality judgment tasks on two marked structures, preposition stranding and the double object construction, which are grammatical in English but ungrammatical in French, to see if they would accept French versions of these structures. It was found that the second language learners did not accept preposition stranding in French but did accept the double object construction, suggesting that transfer takes place only with one of the two marked structures. In addition, the children took tests on these structures in their native language to see if they perceived them as in any sense psycholinguistically marked. Results show that they do not treat marked and unmarked structures differently in the native language. It is suggested that the concept of markedness may cover a range of phenomena that need to be further clarified and investigated.

scholarly journals Specific and generic subjects in the Italian of German–Italian simultaneous bilinguals and L2 learners

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 736-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
TANJA KUPISCH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This study investigates definite articles in specific and generic subject nominals in Italian spoken by adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers) and second language learners (L2ers). The study focuses on plural and mass DPs, in which German and Italian differ. The aims are to (i) compare acquisition outcomes between the weaker and the stronger language in 2L1 acquisition, (ii) see in a comparison with L2ers whether the phenomenon under investigation, which is typically acquired late (after age 6;0), lacks age of onset effects, and (iii) discuss predictions for the directionality of cross-linguistic influence. Twenty German–Italian 2L1ers and 15 advanced L2ers of Italian with German as their native language were tested in an acceptability judgment task and a truth value judgment task. The results show clear differences between Italian as the weaker and as the stronger language in 2L1 acquisition, and similarities between Italian as L2 and as the weaker language in 2L1 acquisition.

Second Language Phonetics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ocke-Schwen Bohn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Second Language Speech Production

The study of second language phonetics is concerned with three broad and overlapping research areas: the characteristics of second language speech production and perception, the consequences of perceiving and producing nonnative speech sounds with a foreign accent, and the causes and factors that shape second language phonetics. Second language learners and bilinguals typically produce and perceive the sounds of a nonnative language in ways that are different from native speakers. These deviations from native norms can be attributed largely, but not exclusively, to the phonetic system of the native language. Non-nativelike speech perception and production may have both social consequences (e.g., stereotyping) and linguistic–communicative consequences (e.g., reduced intelligibility). Research on second language phonetics over the past ca. 30 years has resulted in a fairly good understanding of causes of nonnative speech production and perception, and these insights have to a large extent been driven by tests of the predictions of models of second language speech learning and of cross-language speech perception. It is generally accepted that the characteristics of second language speech are predominantly due to how second language learners map the sounds of the nonnative to the native language. This mapping cannot be entirely predicted from theoretical or acoustic comparisons of the sound systems of the languages involved, but has to be determined empirically through tests of perceptual assimilation. The most influential learner factors which shape how a second language is perceived and produced are the age of learning and the amount and quality of exposure to the second language. A very important and far-reaching finding from research on second language phonetics is that age effects are not due to neurological maturation which could result in the attrition of phonetic learning ability, but to the way phonetic categories develop as a function of experience with surrounding sound systems.

How subtle differences in orthography influence conceptual interpretation

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arina Banga ◽  
Esther Hanssen ◽  
Robert Schreuder ◽  
Anneke Neijt
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Linguistic Relativity ◽  
Noun Compounds ◽  
Linking Element

The present study investigates linguistic relativity. The units of writing investigated are e and en, which are used to represent units of language in Dutch, Frisian, and Afrikaans. Dutch has homographic forms in the plural suffix -en and the linking element of noun-noun compounds en. Frisian does not have homography of this kind, while Afrikaans has a different homography. This raises the question whether second language learners of Dutch consistently interpret the linking en in Dutch noun-noun compounds as plural in the way that native speakers do. Plurality ratings for Dutch modifiers obtained from native Dutch speakers are compared with ratings from Frisian-Dutch bilinguals and Afrikaaners learning Dutch as L2. Significant differences relating to orthography are observed. We therefore argue that differing orthographic conventions in one’s native language (L1) can lead to different interpretations for the same everyday words written in Dutch (L2). Orthography thus provides an example of linguistic relativity. Keywords: linguistic relativity; second language learning; morphology; compounding; linking element; plurality; homography; Dutch; Frisian; Afrikaans

Effects of native language experience on Mandarin lexical tone processing in proficient second language learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keke Yu ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Yuan Chen ◽  
Yacong Zhou ◽  
Ruiming Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience

Second language learners develop non-native lexical processing biases

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Wiener
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractInfants develop language-specific biases favoring either consonantal or vocalic information. These phonological biases affect various levels of spoken-language recognition in children and adults. This study explored whether adults who speak a second language (L2) apply phonological biases during L2 lexical processing, and whether the biases applied are those of the native language (L1), or those appropriate for the L2. Two word reconstruction experiments were carried out in English and Mandarin Chinese. L1 and L2 speakers of English demonstrated a consonantal bias by changing English vowels faster than consonants. L1 and L2 speakers of Mandarin demonstrated a vocalic bias by changing Mandarin consonants faster than vowels. Even relatively late L2 classroom learners whose L1 triggers a consonantal bias (English) exhibited a vocalic bias in their L2 (Mandarin). Lexically related processing biases are thus determined by the phonological and lexical characteristics of the stimuli being processed and not solely by listeners’ L1.

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