Abdominal enhancement techniques for L2 English phoneme pronunciation: Comparing the effectiveness of the techniques for Mandarin and Cantonese speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110167
Author(s):  
Michael Yeldham
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Abdominal Region ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

Production of certain English phonemes relies heavily on effort from the abdominal region, and under-utilization of this region by second language English speakers can create difficulties pronouncing these sounds. In particular, production of long vowel/diphthong sounds requires sustained abdominal contraction to maintain the length of these phonemes, and production of voiced fricative consonants requires a sharp burst of abdominal effort to expel air from the lungs to adequately voice the consonant. Both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers have particular problems producing these phonemes, and this study compared how instruction in the abdominal techniques effected production of these sounds by these two learner groups. The study focused on the vowel and diphthong sounds, /iː/, /uː/ and /eɪ/, and the voiced fricative consonants, /z/,/ð/, /v/ and /ʒ/. A previous study by the author had found the abdominal techniques improved Chinese learners’ production of these phonemes. The learners in that study were evenly divided between Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, and this study reanalysed the data to examine which speaker group benefited more from these abdominal techniques. Results showed that the Mandarin speakers were the major beneficiaries of the techniques. Importantly, the study also explored, in depth, likely reasons for this.

scholarly journals From “No, she does” to “Yes, she does”: Negation processing in negative yes–no questions by Mandarin speakers of English

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Haoruo Zhang ◽  
Norbert Vanek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Negative Questions

Abstract In response to negative yes–no questions (e.g., Doesn’t she like cats?), typical English answers (Yes, she does/No, she doesn’t) peculiarly vary from those in Mandarin (No, she does/Yes, she doesn’t). What are the processing consequences of these markedly different conventionalized linguistic responses to achieve the same communicative goals? And if English and Mandarin speakers process negative questions differently, to what extent does processing change in Mandarin–English sequential bilinguals? Two experiments addressed these questions. Mandarin–English bilinguals, English and Mandarin monolinguals (N = 40/group) were tested in a production experiment (Expt. 1). The task was to formulate answers to positive/negative yes–no questions. The same participants were also tested in a comprehension experiment (Expt. 2), in which they had to answer positive/negative questions with time-measured yes/no button presses. In both Expt. 1 and Expt. 2, English and Mandarin speakers showed language-specific yes/no answers to negative questions. Also, in both experiments, English speakers showed a reaction-time advantage over Mandarin speakers in negation conditions. Bilingual’s performance was in-between that of the L1 and L2 baseline. These findings are suggestive of language-specific processing of negative questions. They also signal that the ways in which bilinguals process negative questions are susceptible to restructuring driven by the second language.

English Nasalance Values of Chinese Learners of English

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

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> 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. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> 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. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> 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. <b><i>Results and Conclusions:</i></b> 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.

scholarly journals Applying a Newly Learned Second Language Dimension to the Unknown: The Influence of Second Language Mandarin Tones on the Naïve Perception of Thai Tones

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-123
Author(s):  
Vance Schaefer ◽  
Isabelle Darcy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Repetition Priming ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
L1 English

Abstract This study investigates whether L2 Mandarin learners can generalize experience with Mandarin tones to unfamiliar tones (i.e., Thai). Three language groups – L1 English/ L2 Mandarin learners (n=18), L1 Mandarin speakers (n=30), L1 monolingual English speakers (n=23) – were tested on the perception of unfamiliar Thai tones on ABX tasks. L2 Mandarin learners and L1 Mandarin speakers perceived Thai tones more accurately than L1 English non-learners. Mandarin learners L1 speakers showed priming on Mandarin tones on a lexical decision task with repetition priming, suggesting L2 tones had been encoded within lexical representations of L2 Mandarin words. However, results must be interpreted cautiously, with an absence of expected priming and presence of unexpected priming. In sum, learners can transfer L2 tone experience to unfamiliar tones, expanding the Feature Hypothesis (McAllister, Flege, & Piske, 2002) to include L2 influence as well. In addition, results indicate a potential disconnect between perception and encoding.

scholarly journals From ‘No, she does’ to ‘Yes, she does’: Negation processing in negative yes–no questions by Chinese users of English

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoruo Zhang ◽  
Norbert Vanek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Negative Questions

In response to negative yes–no questions (e.g., Doesn’t she like cats?), typical English answers (Yes, she does/No, she doesn’t) peculiarly vary from those in Mandarin (No, she does/Yes, she doesn’t). What are the processing consequences of these markedly different conventionalized linguistic responses to achieve the same communicative goals? And if English and Mandarin speakers process negative questions differently, to what extent does processing change in Mandarin–English sequential bilinguals? Two experiments addressed these questions. Mandarin–English bilinguals, English and Mandarin monolinguals (N = 40/group) were tested in a production experiment (Expt. 1). The task was to formulate answers to positive/negative yes–no questions. The same participants were also tested in a comprehension experiment (Expt. 2), in which they had to answer positive/negative questions with time-measured yes/no button presses. In both Expt. 1 and Expt. 2, English and Mandarin speakers showed language-specific yes/no answers to negative questions. Also, in both experiments, English speakers showed a reaction-time advantage over Mandarin speakers in negation conditions. Bilingual’s performance was in-between that of the L1 and L2 baseline. These findings are suggestive of language-specific processing of negative questions. They also signal that the ways in which bilinguals process negative questions are susceptible to restructuring driven by the second language.

scholarly journals Too little, too late: A longitudinal study of English corrective focus by Mandarin speakers

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 270
Author(s):  
Alex Hong-Lun Yeung ◽  
Hyunah Baek ◽  
Chikako Takahashi ◽  
Stephen Buttner ◽  
Jiwon Hwang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
The Us ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Over Time

This study tracks the production of English corrective focus by Mandarin speakers (MS) living in the US over a two-year period. We show that the MS differed from English speakers (ES) in the alignment of the corrective focus pitch accent: while ES productions typically showed a pitch peak on the stressed syllable, followed by an abrupt fall, the pitch rise and fall for MS was later and less steep. While the MS productions became more English-like over time in some respects, the failure to correctly align pitch accent persisted over time. We argue that this misalignment of pitch peak cannot be attributed to a lack of sensitivity to English stress, but rather represents a common failure to master the complex timing patterns involved in synchronizing pitch, intensity, and duration cues with segmental structure in a second language.

Production of Subject-Verb Agreement in Spanish as a Second Language

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Nicol ◽  
Delia Greth
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Semantic Variables ◽  
Advanced Proficiency

Abstract. In this paper, we report the results of a study of English speakers who have learned Spanish as a second language. All were late learners who have achieved near- advanced proficiency in Spanish. The focus of the research is on the production of subject-verb agreement errors and the factors that influence the incidence of such errors. There is some evidence that English and Spanish subject-verb agreement differ in susceptibility to interference from different types of variables; specifically, it has been reported that Spanish speakers show a greater influence of semantic factors in their implementation of subject-verb agreement ( Vigliocco, Butterworth, & Garrett, 1996 ). In our study, all participants were tested in English (L1) and Spanish (L2). Results indicate nearly identical error patterns: these speakers show no greater influence of semantic variables in the computation of agreement when they are speaking Spanish than when they are speaking English.

The Perception of Cantonese Vowel Length Contrast by Mandarin Speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 635-659
Author(s):  
Jingxin Luo ◽  
Vivian Guo Li ◽  
Peggy Pik Ki Mok
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The study investigates the perception of vowel length contrasts in Cantonese by native Mandarin speakers with varying degrees of experience in Cantonese: naïve listeners (no exposure), inexperienced learners (~1 year), and experienced learners (~5 years). While vowel length contrasts do not exist in Mandarin, they are, to some extent, exploited in English, the second language (L2) of all the participants. Using an AXB discrimination task, we investigate how native and L2 phonological knowledge affects the acquisition of vowel length contrasts in a third language (L3). The results revealed that all participant groups could discriminate three contrastive vowel pairs (/aː/–/ɐ/, /ɛː/–/e/, /ɔː/–/o/), but their performance was influenced by the degree of Cantonese exposure, particularly for learners in the early stage of acquisition. In addition to vowel quality differences, durational differences were proposed to explain the perceptual patterns. Furthermore, L2 English perception of the participants was found to modulate the perception of L3 Cantonese vowel length contrasts. Our findings demonstrate the bi-directional interaction between languages acquired at different stages, and provide concrete data to evaluate some speech acquisition models.

The visual signature of non-understanding: A systematic replication of McDonough, Trofimovich, Lu, and Abashidze ()

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kim McDonough ◽  
Rachael Lindberg ◽  
Pavel Trofimovich ◽  
Oguzhan Tekin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Replication Study ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Systematic Replication ◽  
Dynamic Movement

Abstract This replication study seeks to extend the generalizability of an exploratory study (McDonough et al., 2019) that identified holds (i.e., temporary cessation of dynamic movement by the listener) as a reliable visual cue of non-understanding. Conversations between second language (L2) English speakers in the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca Interaction (CELFI; McDonough & Trofimovich, 2019) with non-understanding episodes (e.g., pardon?, what?, sorry?) were sampled and compared with understanding episodes (i.e., follow-up questions). External raters (N = 90) assessed the listener's comprehension under three rating conditions: +face/+voice, −face/+voice, and +face/−voice. The association between non-understanding and holds in McDonough et al. (2019) was confirmed. Although raters distinguished reliably between understanding and non-understanding episodes, they were not sensitive to facial expressions when judging listener comprehension. The initial and replication findings suggest that holds remain a promising visual signature of non-understanding that can be explored in future theoretically- and pedagogically-oriented contexts.

Transfer and unlearning of topic prominence by Chinese learners of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chang ◽  
Lilong Xu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
English Only ◽  
Cognitive States ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Topic Constructions ◽  
Chinese Learners Of English

Abstract Chinese allows both gapped and gapless topic constructions without their usage being restricted to specific contexts, while English only allows gapped topic constructions which are used in certain contexts. In other words, Chinese uses ‘topic prominence’, whereas English does not. The contrast between English and Chinese topic constructions poses a learnability problem for Chinese learners of English. This paper uses an empirical study investigating first language (L1) transfer in the case of Chinese learners of English and the extent to which they are able to unlearn topic prominence as they progress in second language (L2) English. Results of an acceptability judgment test indicate that Chinese learners of English initially transfer Chinese topic prominence into their English, then gradually unlearn Chinese topic prominence as their English proficiency improves, and finally unlearn Chinese topic prominence successfully. The results support the Full Transfer Theory (Schwartz, Bonnie & Rex Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12. 40–72) and the Variational Learning Model (Yang, Charles. 2004. Universal Grammar, statistics or both? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8. 451–456), but contradict the proposal that the topic prominence can never be transferred but may be unlearned from the beginning in Chinese speakers’ acquisition of English (Zheng, Chao. 2001. Nominal Constructions Beyond IP and Their Initial Restructuring in L2 Acquisition. Guangzhou: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Ph.D. dissertation). In addition, the type of topic constructions that is used and whether or not a comma is added after the topic have an effect on learners’ transfer and unlearning of topic prominence. It is proposed that the specification of Agr(eement) and T(ense) as well as the presence of expletive subjects in English input can trigger the unlearning of topic prominence for Chinese learners of English.

Learning opportunities in peer-peer interaction: A case study of two L2 Mandarin Chinese learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-226
Author(s):  
Dan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
French Immersion ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Negotiation For Meaning

AbstractThe roles of interaction have been studied for several decades. Recent studies have turned to investigate “the details of which components of interaction might be more or less effective in which contexts with which learners” (Loewen, Shawn & Masatoshi Sato. 2018. Interaction and instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching 51(3). 285–329: 286). This case study, based on three unstructured interactions outside the classroom between two L2 Mandarin Chinese learners, investigates the learning opportunities these interactions brought about in terms of helping them to increase in control over forms that had already been encountered inside the classroom. Using the concept of the language-related episode (Swain, Merrill & Sharon Lapkin. 1998. Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal 82(3). 320–337), this study sets focus on learning opportunities for lexis- and grammar-related items. It finds learning opportunities arise as the two peers negotiate for meaning motivated by the need to comprehend, strive to use the L2 to express/co-express themselves, and improve their form through the other’s feedback. In addition, lexis-related learning is found to be very positive in this study. The dictionary played an indispensable role in facilitating the learners when they encountered lexis-related issues. Further, it enabled the learners to learn new vocabulary when driven by communicative needs. In comparison, the grammar-related learning is found to be relatively complicated. And the fact the learners had nowhere to resort to concerning grammatical issues attributed to it. In terms of the different types of interactions, compared to learning through negotiation for meaning and feedback, output and co-construction/collaboration were found to be most productive in promoting the learning.

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