scholarly journals Native language experience influences the perceived similarity of second language vowel categories.

2009 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 2766-2766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Farmer ◽  
Ran Liu ◽  
Neha S. Mehta ◽  
Jason D. Zevin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Vowel Categories

Distinctiveness and Assimilation in Vowel Perception in a Second Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4534-4543
Author(s):  
Wei Hu ◽  
Sha Tao ◽  
Mingshuang Li ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Vowel Identification ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Perceptual Distance ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Chinese Counterpart ◽  
Vowel Categories

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how the distinctive establishment of 2nd language (L2) vowel categories (e.g., how distinctively an L2 vowel is established from nearby L2 vowels and from the native language counterpart in the 1st formant [F1] × 2nd formant [F2] vowel space) affected L2 vowel perception. Method Identification of 12 natural English monophthongs, and categorization and rating of synthetic English vowels /i/ and /ɪ/ in the F1 × F2 space were measured for Chinese-native (CN) and English-native (EN) listeners. CN listeners were also examined with categorization and rating of Chinese vowels in the F1 × F2 space. Results As expected, EN listeners significantly outperformed CN listeners in English vowel identification. Whereas EN listeners showed distinctive establishment of 2 English vowels, CN listeners had multiple patterns of L2 vowel establishment: both, 1, or neither established. Moreover, CN listeners' English vowel perception was significantly related to the perceptual distance between the English vowel and its Chinese counterpart, and the perceptual distance between the adjacent English vowels. Conclusions L2 vowel perception relied on listeners' capacity to distinctively establish L2 vowel categories that were distant from the nearby L2 vowels.

scholarly journals Learning two languages from birth shapes pre-attentive processing of vowel categories: Electrophysiological correlates of vowel discrimination in monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
MONIKA MOLNAR ◽  
LINDA POLKA ◽  
SHARI BAUM ◽  
KARSTEN STEINHAUER
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Canadian French ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Vowel Categories

Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we measured pre-attentive processing involved in native vowel perception as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN) in monolingual and simultaneous bilingual (SB) users of Canadian English and Canadian French in response to various pairings of four vowels: English /u/, French /u/, French /y/, and a control /y/. The monolingual listeners exhibited a discrimination pattern that was shaped by their native language experience. The SB listeners, on the other hand, exhibited a MMN pattern that was distinct from both monolingual listener groups, suggesting that the SB pre-attentive system is tuned to access sub-phonemic detail with respect to both input languages, including detail that is not readily accessed by either of their monolingual peers. Additionally, simultaneous bilinguals exhibited sensitivity to language context generated by the standard vowel in the MMN paradigm. The automatic access to fine phonetic detail may aid SB listeners to rapidly adjust their perception to the variable listening conditions that they frequently encounter.

scholarly journals Bilingual Language Experience Shapes Resting-State Brain Rhythms

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-318
Author(s):  
Kinsey Bice ◽  
Brianna L. Yamasaki ◽  
Chantel S. Prat
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Native Language Proficiency

An increasing body of research has investigated how bilingual language experience changes brain structure and function, including changes to task-free, or “resting-state” brain connectivity. Such findings provide important evidence about how the brain continues to be shaped by different language experiences throughout the lifespan. The neural effects of bilingual language experience can provide evidence about the additional processing demands placed on the linguistic and/or executive systems by dual-language use. While considerable research has used MRI to examine where these changes occur, such methods cannot reveal the temporal dynamics of functioning brain networks at rest. The current study used data from task-free EEGS to disentangle how the linguistic and cognitive demands of bilingual language use impact brain functioning. Data analyzed from 106 bilinguals and 91 monolinguals revealed that bilinguals had greater alpha power, and significantly greater and broader coherence in the alpha and beta frequency ranges than monolinguals. Follow-up analyses showed that higher alpha was related to language control: more second-language use, higher native-language proficiency, and earlier age of second-language acquisition. Bilateral beta power was related to native-language proficiency, whereas theta was related to native-language proficiency only in left-hemisphere electrodes. The results contribute to our understanding of how the linguistic and cognitive requirements of dual-language use shape intrinsic brain activity, and what the broader implications for information processing may be.

Second language experience modulates functional brain network for the native language production in bimodal bilinguals

NeuroImage ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 1367-1375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Zou ◽  
Jubin Abutalebi ◽  
Benjamin Zinszer ◽  
Xin Yan ◽  
Hua Shu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Functional Brain ◽  
Functional Brain Network

scholarly journals Emotionality ratings and electrodermal responses to university-related expressions in a native and a non-native language

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Vanek ◽  
Artem Tovalovich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Empirical Context

To what extent does emotional reactivity differ when bilinguals process input in their native (L1) or non-native language (L2)? Does the L1 elicit a significantly stronger emotional arousal or can salient second language experience generate comparably strong associations between emotions and the L2? These questions were addressed through two measures of emotional arousal, (online) skin conductance responses (SCR) and (offline) emotionality ratings. Russian-English late bilinguals, UK university students, were presented different types of university-related expressions in English and Russian. The vocabulary types were university-related emotionally-laden expressions (“Плагиат”/“Plagiarism”) and neutral words (“Круг”/“Circle”). Two main results emerged. First, in L1, SCRs showed a significantly increased electro-dermal activity when participants reacted to university-related words. Emotionality ratings showed contrasts based on stimulus type in both languages. These results indicate that university-related words qualify as a category of emotionally charged expressions. Second, between-language tests showed that electrodermal reactivity was not more reduced in L2 than in L1, which was also mirrored in emotionality ratings. These findings are located within the existing empirical context, and alternative interpretations are provided to further our understanding of how an emotionally salient L2 context contributes to shifts from mother tongue dominance to an increased emotional power of the second language.

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

scholarly journals Production of Estonian vowels by Finnish speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143
Author(s):  
Einar Meister ◽  
Lya Meister
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Successful Strategy ◽  
Phonetic Similarity ◽  
Category O ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Tongue Position ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Vowel Categories

In the study, we examined the production of Estonian vowel categories by second language (L2) speakers of Estonian (native language Finnish) and compared them to those of native Estonian (L1) speakers. The vowel systems of the two languages are very similar: all eight Finnish vowels have close counterparts in Estonian, though Estonian has one more vowel category. The vowels for acoustic analysis were extracted from the target words embedded in sentences read by both L1 and L2 informants. The results showed that using the native Finnish vowel patterns for the Estonian counterparts has been a successful strategy – due to phonetic similarity of the shared vowels in the two languages, the L2 vowels assimilate well to Finnish L1 vowel categories. The L2 learners have acquired proper tongue position for the new vowel category /õ/ in tongue height and in front-back dimension, but deviate from the L1 speakers in use of the lip rounding gesture. Kokkuvõte. Einar Meister ja Lya Meister: Eesti vokaalid soome emakeelega keelejuhtide häälduses. Artiklis uuriti soome emakeelega keelejuhtide eesti vokaalide hääldust ja võrreldi seda eesti emakeelega keelejuhtide hääldusega. Eesti ja soome vokaalisüsteemid on väga sarnased – kõigil soome vokaalidel on eesti keeles foneetiliselt lähedane vaste. Eesti keeles on lisaks veel üks vokaalikategooria, s.o ümardamata keskkõrge tagavokaal /õ/. Uuringus kasutati eesti ja soome emakeelega keelejuhtide loetud samu lauseid, vokaalide akustiliseks analüüsiks eraldati neist rõhulised vokaalid. Kõigi vokaalide puhul leiti kolme formandi sagedused, millest esimene (F1) on seotud keele kõrgusega, teine (F2) keele ees-tagapoolsusega ja kolmas (F3) huulte ümardatusega. Tulemused näitasid, et (1) tänu soome vokaalide foneetilisele sarnasusele vastavate eesti vokaalidega oli soome emakeelega kõnelejate eesti vokaalide hääldus lähedane eesti emakeelega keelejuhtidele; (2) on omandatud küll /õ/-vokaali hääldusasend nii keele kõrguse (F1) kui ka ees-tagapoolsuse (F2) teljel, kuid F3 väärtuste põhjal paigutub soomlaste hääldatud /õ/ ümarate vokaalide rühma. Märksõnad: eesti keel, soome keel, L2, vokaalide hääldus, akustiline analüüs

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document