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

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.

SOURCES OF VARIATION IN SECOND AND NATIVE LANGUAGE SPEAKING PROFICIENCY AMONG COLLEGE-AGED SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Mona Roxana Botezatu ◽  
Taomei Guo ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
Sarah Peterson ◽  
Dalia L. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Internal Sources ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract We evaluated external and internal sources of variation in second language (L2) and native language (L1) proficiency among college students. One hundred and twelve native-English L2 learners completed measures of L1 and L2 speaking proficiency, working memory, and cognitive control and provided self-ratings of language exposure and use. When considering learner-external variation, we found that more frequent L2 exposure predicted higher L2 and L1 proficiency, while earlier L2 exposure predicted higher L2 proficiency, but poorer L1 maintenance. L1–L2 distance limited crosslinguistic transfer of print-to-sound mappings. When considering learner-internal variation, we found that L1 and L2 proficiency were highly correlated and that better working memory, but not cognitive control, accounted for additional variance in L2 and L1 proficiency. More frequent L2 exposure was associated with better cognitive control.

“Identical” vowels in L1 and L2? Criteria and implications for L2 phonetics teaching and learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 144-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Maurova Paillereau
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
First Language ◽  
Positive Transfer ◽  
Phonetic Similarity ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
L1 And L2

Researchers in the field of the teaching and learning of phonetics agree that learners of a foreign/second language (L2) acquire identical vowels by positive transfer from their first language (L1). This statement prompted us to examine whether the French and Czech languages, differing in the size of their vowel inventories, possess any identical vowels that could thus be omitted from French as a Foreign Language (FFL) phonetic curricula intended for Czech learners. The quantification of the vowels’ phonetic similarity is based on the comparison of their (1) phonetic symbols, (2) formant values (F-patterns), and (3) perceptual characteristics. The combined results show that strictly identical vowels between the two languages do not exist, but some French vowels can be defined as highly similar to some Czech vowels. Different coarticulatory effects of vowels produced in isolation and in labial, dental and palato-velar symmetrical environments point to a very strong influence of phonetic contexts on vowel similarity. Indeed, no French vowel is highly similar to any Czech vowel in all of the contexts studied. The findings suggest that phonetic exercises designed for Czech learners should focus on allophonic variations of all French vowels.

scholarly journals Autonomic arousal in a foreign language in the context of decision making

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Mai Al-Khatib ◽  
Charles R. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Emotional Distancing

We test emotional distancing in a second language (L2) by replicating an experiment by Keysar, Hayakawa, and An (2012) on making decisions under the framing effect (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). With their participants’ average Age of Acquisition (AoA) being around and beyond puberty, autonomic arousal was evident in native language (L1) but absent in L2. Our study showed no difference between L1 and L2 when AoA was around 4. However, when average AoA was around 7.7, autonomic arousal was evident in L1 but absent in L2, predicting an AoA threshold affecting L2 affective processing significantly earlier than puberty.

Perceptual cue weighting in L1 and L2 Chinese: An investigation of aspiration and frication in Chinese obstruents by Danish learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Mengzhu Yan ◽  
Marjoleine Sloos
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Cue Weighting ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractAn important part of second language acquisition of sound systems involves the distinction between phoneme contrasts that exist in L2 but not in L1. However, L1 and L2 listeners do not always use the same acoustic cues to perceptually distinguish the contrasts. Most studies concentrate on vowel perception, but perceptual cue weighting in consonants is somewhat under-investigated, although equally relevant. This article investigates the cue-weighting of Chinese /t th ts tsh/ by L1 and Danish L2 listeners. The four phonemes are contrastive, and distinguished in aspiration, frication or both. Moreover, Chinese /th ts tsh/ acoustically all overlap with a single phoneme in Danish /ts/, variably realized as [ts] ~ [th], which make it notoriously difficult to acquire the contrasts. We conducted a cue-weighting experiment to investigate how Danish and Chinese listeners use aspiration and frication to perceptually categorize these Chinese sounds. Our results show that Danish learners are not as sensitive as native Chinese to the deciding cues to distinguish the Chinese phoneme contrasts. This study sheds light on L2 sound acquisition in which different phonemes in the target L2 language correspond to a single but variable phoneme in the native language.

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.

scholarly journals Changing expectations mediate adaptation in L2 production

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-617
Author(s):  
Guillermo Montero-Melis ◽  
T. Florian Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
Open Question ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractNative language (L1) processing draws on implicit expectations. An open question is whether non-native learners of a second language (L2) similarly draw on expectations, and whether these expectations are based on learners’ L1 or L2 knowledge. We approach this question by studying inverse preference effects on lexical encoding. L1 and L2 speakers of Spanish described motion events, while they were either primed to express path, manner, or neither. In line with other work, we find that L1 speakers adapted more strongly after primes that are unexpected in their L1. For L2 speakers, adaptation depended on their L2 proficiency: The least proficient speakers exhibited the inverse preference effect on adaptation based on what was unexpected in their L1; but the more proficient speakers were, the more they exhibited inverse preference effects based on what was unexpected in the L2. We discuss implications for L1 transfer and L2 acquisition.

scholarly journals Spectral dynamics in L1 and L2 vowel perception

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Schwartz ◽  
Grzegorz Aperliński ◽  
Mateusz Jekiel ◽  
Kamil Malarski
Keyword(s):  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Vowel Identification ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Phonetic Similarity ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Accuracy Rates

This paper presents a study of L1 and L2 vowel perception by Polish learners of English. Employing the Silent Center paradigm (e.g. Strange et al. 1983), by which listeners are presented with different portions of a vowel, a force choice identification task was carried out. Due to differences in the vowel systems of the two languages, it was hypothesized that stimulus type should have minimal effects for L1 Polish vowel perception since Polish vowels are relatively stable in quality. In L2 English, depending on proficiency level, listeners were expected to adopt a more dynamic approach to vowel identification and show higher accuracy rates on the SC tokens. That is, listeners were expected to attend more to dynamic formant cues, or vowel inherent spectral change (VISC; see e.g. Morrison and Assmann 2013) in vowel perception. Results for identification accuracy for the most part were consistent with these hypotheses. Implications of VISC for the notion of cross-language phonetic similarity, crucial to models of L2 speech acquisition, are also discussed.

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