Phonetic variation of English vowels produced by Native speakers and Korean learners of English in paragraph-reading and pseudo spontaneous conversation setting

2016 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Yong Eun Lee
Author(s):  
Hyunwoo Kim ◽  
Theres Grüter

Abstract Implicit causality (IC) is a well-known phenomenon whereby certain verbs appear to create biases to remention either their subject or object in a causal dependent clause. This study investigated to what extent Korean learners of English made use of IC information for predictive processing at a discourse level, and whether L2 proficiency played a modulating role in this process. Results from a visual-world eye-tracking experiment showed early use of IC information in both L1 and L2 listeners, yet the effect was weaker and emerged later in the L2 group. None of three independent and intercorrelated proficiency measures modulated L2 listeners’ processing behavior. The findings suggest that L2 listeners are able to engage in prediction during real-time processing at a discourse level, although they did so to a more limited extent than native speakers in this study. We discuss these findings in light of similar evidence from other recent work.


2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bley-Vroman ◽  
Hye-Ri Joo

The English locative alternation relates sentences of the type John loaded hay onto the wagon to those of the type John loaded the wagon with hay. Some locative verbs occur in both of these patterns, others in only one or the other. It is known that there are differences among languages with respect to which verbs are possible. The present research focuses on the constructional meaning of the locative alternation and on the constraints governing verbs that can participate in the alternation. One characteristic of the “ground-object” locative is that the object tends to be viewed as completely affected. This is known as the holism effect. Additionally, English has certain narrow constraints on the verbs that can occur in the two constructions. This study investigates whether native speakers of Korean learning English develop knowledge of the holism effect in the English locative and knowledge of the narrow constraints. English native speakers and Korean learners of English participated in a forced-choice picture-description task. Native speakers of Korean also judged an equivalent test instrument in Korean. The primary results are these: When given a ground-object structure, both learners and English native speakers preferentially chose a ground-holism picture. We interpret this as a reflection of the holism effect: Learners, like native speakers, have knowledge of this aspect of the constructional meaning of the locative. English native speakers also show their knowledge of the narrow conflation classes by rejecting ground-object structures containing verbs that are not permitted in this structure, even if the picture would be appropriate. Korean learners show no effect for narrow verb class. We interpret this as showing that the learners have not achieved native-speaker knowledge of the narrow classes. Korean uses a different basis for verb classification.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soo-Ok Kweon ◽  
Robert Bley-Vroman

Contraction of want to to wanna is subject to constraints that have been related to the operation of Universal Grammar. Contraction appears to be blocked when the trace of an extracted wh-word intervenes. Evidence for knowledge of these constraints by young English-speaking children has been taken to show the operation of Universal Grammar in early child language acquisition. The present study investigates knowledge of these constraints in adults, both English native speakers and advanced Korean learners of English. The results of three experiments — using elicited production, oral repair, and grammaticality judgments — confirmed native speaker knowledge of the constraints. A second process of phonological elision may also operate to produce wanna. Learners also showed some differentiation of contexts, but much less clearly than native speakers. We speculate that non-natives may be using rules of complement selection, rather than the constraints of Universal Grammar (UG) to control contraction.


Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Yong-cheol Lee

Abstract This study examined whether Korean learners of English attained native-like performance in English focus prosody by conducting production and perception experiments using digit strings. Language learners were classified into advanced-, intermediate-, and low-level groups according to their proficiency and compared with native speakers. Native speakers’ focus prosody was clearly prominent in the focus positions, and their post-focus positions were considerably compressed. Their focused digits were easy to detect, resulting in a 97% identification rate. Although advanced-level speakers produced acoustic cues quite similar to those of native speakers, their post-focus production did not resemble that of native speakers. Their identification rate was 81%, 16% lower than that of native speakers. Neither intermediate- nor low-level speakers’ focus-cueing changes were distinguished whatsoever in the focus and post-focus positions. Their identification rates were just over 10%, similar to the level of chance in a 10-digit string, implying that their focus productions were not sufficiently salient to be recognized in the experiment. The results suggest that second language acquisition is hindered by a negative transfer between English and Korean. The acquisition of second language focus prosody proceeds slowly; second language learners approach native-like proficiency once they become advanced.


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