Cross-language perception of Brazilian Portuguese vowels by Californian English speakers

2011 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 2573-2573
Author(s):  
Polina Vasiliev ◽  
Paola Escudero
Keyword(s):  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Language Perception ◽  
Cross Language

scholarly journals Can Google Translate Rewire Your L2 English Processing?

Digital ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-85
Author(s):  
Natália Resende ◽  
Andy Way
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Web Based ◽  
English Syntax

In this article, we address the question of whether exposure to the translated output of MT systems could result in changes in the cognitive processing of English as a second language (L2 English). To answer this question, we first conducted a survey with 90 Brazilian Portuguese L2 English speakers with the aim of understanding how and for what purposes they use web-based MT systems. To investigate whether MT systems are capable of influencing L2 English cognitive processing, we carried out a syntactic priming experiment with 32 Brazilian Portuguese speakers. We wanted to test whether speakers re-use in their subsequent speech in English the same syntactic alternative previously seen in the MT output, when using the popular Google Translate system to translate sentences from Portuguese into English. The results of the survey show that Brazilian Portuguese L2 English speakers use Google Translate as a tool supporting their speech in English as well as a source of English vocabulary learning. The results of the syntactic priming experiment show that exposure to an English syntactic alternative through GT can lead to the re-use of the same syntactic alternative in subsequent speech even if it is not the speaker’s preferred syntactic alternative in English. These findings suggest that GT is being used as a tool for language learning purposes and so is indeed capable of rewiring the processing of L2 English syntax.

scholarly journals The role of L1 English speakers’ familiarity with Brazilian-accented English (L2) in the intelligibility of Brazilian learners of English (L2): a discussion on intelligibility from a Complex Dynamic Systems perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 339-362
Author(s):  
Déborah Salves ◽  
Paolla Wanglon ◽  
Ubiratã Kickhöfel Alves
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Systems ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Dynamic Systems ◽  
Accented English ◽  
L1 English

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of familiarity with Brazilian-accented English (L2) in the intelligibility of speech samples when judged by native English listeners. Speech samples were collected from five native Brazilian Portuguese individuals from Southern Brazil, with a pre-intermediate level of proficiency in English. Following a Complex Dynamic Systems account (De Bot et al., 2007), this is a longitudinal study in which a group of four British listeners participated in weekly intelligibility transcription tasks, applied over the course of five weeks. This group was comprised of individuals who had recently arrived in Brazil. Results suggest that familiarity with a speaker’s L1 and accented-L2 has an effect on the intelligibility of what is heard. From the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems, we argue that there is an alteration of a listener’s perception of his/her own language system due to exposure to it as an L2.

The L2 perception of initial English /h/ and /ɹ/ by Brazilian Portuguese learners of English

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-180
Author(s):  
Denise Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Discrimination Test ◽  
Identification Test ◽  
L2 Perception ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Language Assimilation

This study investigates how speakers who speak Brazilian Portuguese as their first language and English as their second language perceive the English phonemes /h/ and /ɹ/, and how they and monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers map these phonemes onto Portuguese sound categories. Participants took part in three experiments: an AXB discrimination test, an identification test, and a cross-language assimilation test, which was also taken by monolinguals. Lower and higher proficiency groups were able to hear the distinction acoustically, but only the higher proficiency group used the distinction to identify English words. Monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers and the higher proficiency group assimilated English /h/ primarily to Portuguese /h/. However, the phonological environment had an effect for monolinguals, but not for the higher proficiency group. The lower proficiency group, which one might expect to fall in between these two groups, showed a failure to assimilate English sounds to the Portuguese categories.

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