scholarly journals Forming New Vowel Categories in Second Language Speech: The Case of Polish Learners' Production of English /I/ and /e/

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Rojczyk
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Vowel Categories ◽  
English I

The paper concentrates on formation of L2 English vowel categories in the speech of Polish learners. More specifically, it compares distribution of two English categories - /I/ and /e/ relative to neighbouring Polish vowels. 43 participants recorded Polish and English vowels in a /bVt/ context. First two formants were measured at a vowel midpoint and plotted on a vowel plane. The results reveal that while a separate /I/ category is formed fairly effectively in Polish learners pronunciation of English, a category of /e/ is almost completely subsumed by a Polish vowel /ϵ/

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 ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT ON VOWEL PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE BY INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Rudha Widagsa ◽  
Ahmad Agung Yuwono Putro
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
British English ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Second Formant

Indonesian is the most widely spoken language in Indonesia. More than 200 million people speak the language as a first language. However, acoustic study on Indonesian learners of English (ILE) production remains untouched. The purpose of this measurement is to examine the influence of first language (L1) on English vowels production as a second language (L2). Based on perceptual magnet hypothesis (PMH), ILE were predicted to produce close sounds to L1 English where the vowels are similar to Indonesian vowels. Acoustic analysis was conducted to measure the formant frequencies. This study involved five males of Indonesian speakers aged between 20-25 years old. The data of British English native speakers were taken from previous study by Hawkins & Midgley (2005). The result illustrates that the first formant frequencies (F1) which correlates to the vowel hight of Indonesian Learners of English were significantly different from the corresponding frequencies of British English vowels. Surprisingly, the significant differences in second formant (F2) of ILE were only in the production of /ɑ, ɒ, ɔ/ in which /ɑ/=p 0.002, /ɒ/ =p 0,001, /ɔ/ =p 0,03. The vowel space area of ILE was slightly less spacious than the native speakers. This study is expected to shed light in English language teaching particularly as a foreign language.Keywords: VSA, EFL, Indonesian learners, formant frequencies, acoustic

The Production of New and Similar Vowels by Adult German Learners of English

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ocke-Schwen Bohn ◽  
James Emil Flege
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Positive Effect

The study reported in this paper examined the effect of second language (L2) experience on the production of L2 vowels for which acoustic counterparts are either present or absent in the first language (L1). The hypothesis being tested was that amount of L2 experience would not affect L1 German speakers' production of the “similar” English vowels /i, l, ∈/, whereas English language experience would enable L1 Germans to produce an English-like /æ/, which has no counterpart in German. The predictions were tested in two experiments that compared the production of English /i, l, ∈, æ/ by two groups of L1 German speakers differing in English language experience and an L1 English control group. An acoustic experiment compared the three groups for spectral and temporal characteristics of the English vowels produced in /bVt/ words. The same tokens were assessed for intelligibility in a labeling experiment. The results of both experiments were largely consistent with the hypothesis. The experienced L2 speakers did not produce the similar English vowels /i, l, ∈/ more intelligibly than the inexperienced L2 speakers, not did experience have a positive effect on approximating the English acoustic norms for these similar vowels. The intelligibility results for the new vowel /æ/ did not clearly support the model. However, the acoustic comparisons showed that the experienced but not the inexperienced L2 speakers produced the new vowel /æ/ in much the same way as the native English speakers.

The effects of age of second language learning on the production of English vowels

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray J. Munro ◽  
James Emil Flege ◽  
Ian R. A. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
English Vowels

ABSTRACTThis study examined the English vowel productions of 240 native speakers of Italian who had arrived in Canada at ages ranging from 2 to 23 years and 24 native English speakers from the same community. The productions of 11 vowels were rated for degree of foreign accent by 10 listeners. An increase in perceived accentedness as a function of increasing age of arrival was observed on every vowel. Not one of the vowels was observed to be produced in a consistently native-like manner by the latest-arriving learners, even though they had been living in Canada for an average of 32 years. However, high intelligibility (percent correct identification) scores were obtained for the same set of productions. This was true even for English vowels that have no counterpart in Italian.

Auditory training for experienced and inexperienced second-language learners: Native French speakers learning English vowels

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL IVERSON ◽  
MELANIE PINET ◽  
BRONWEN G. EVANS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Natural Variability ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Auditory Training ◽  
Natural Speech ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Learning English

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether high-variability auditory training on natural speech can benefit experienced second-language English speakers who already are exposed to natural variability in their daily use of English. The subjects were native French speakers who had learned English in school; experienced listeners were tested in England and the less experienced listeners were tested in France. Both groups were given eight sessions of high-variability phonetic training for English vowels, and were given a battery of perception and production tests to evaluate their improvement. The results demonstrated that both groups learned to similar degrees, suggesting that training provides a type of learning that is distinct from that obtained in more naturalistic situations.

Identification of English vowels by non-native listeners: Effects of listeners’ experience of the target dialect and talkers’ language background

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832096564
Author(s):  
Shinsook Lee ◽  
Jaekoo Kang ◽  
Hosung Nam
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
American English ◽  
British English ◽  
Language Background ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

This study investigates how second language (L2) listeners’ perception is affected by two factors: the listeners’ experience with the target dialect – North American English (NAE) vs. Standard Southern British English (SSBE) – and talkers’ language background: native vs. non-native talkers; i.e. interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit (ISIB) talker effects. Two groups of native-Korean-speaking listeners with different target English dialects – L1-Korean listeners of English as a second language (ESL) in the USA and L1-Korean ESL listeners in the UK – were tested on the identification of 12 English vowels spoken by native and non-native (L1-Korean) talkers of NAE and SSBE. The results show that the L2 listeners’ experience with the target dialect had a significant impact on the accuracy of their identification of the L2 vowels. However, no ISIB-talker effects were observed for the L1-Korean listener groups regardless of the listeners’ differences in experience with the two varieties of English. The study adds to the L2 sound acquisition literature and the ISIB literature by looking into L2 learners’ identification of L2 vowels, taking into account the learners’ differences in experience with two standard varieties of English (NAE and SSBE) and the interaction between the learners’ experience with the two varieties and ISIB-talker effects. It also sheds some light on the issue of adult L2 learners’ ability to learn the vowels of a new target variety.

Moving towards a bilingual baseline in second language phonetic research

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Sakai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Category Boundary ◽  
Target Structure ◽  
Cue Weighting ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Variable Performance

Abstract This investigation compared adult sequential bilinguals and native speakers (NSs) with the intention of determining if bilinguals are an appropriate comparison group for second language (L2) learners in L2 phonetic research. To that end, 16 Spanish-English bilinguals were compared to 20 NSs of English on their perception and production of two English vowels. In perception, both groups had a similar category boundary and acoustic cue weighting. In production, both groups produced distinct vowels that were highly intelligible, although the bilinguals produced the phonemes closer together in the vowel space and had more variable performance than the NSs. The inspection of these two participant groups reveals that bilinguals have the ability to perceive and produce a difficult L2 phonemic contrast, with slight and inconsequential differences when compared to NSs. Thus, I argue that bilinguals who have acquired a target structure are an apt comparison group in L2 phonetic experiments.

scholarly journals English vowels for Chinese speakers enrolled in English as a second language classes

1995 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 2893-2893
Author(s):  
Therese I. Huber ◽  
Hong Wei Dou ◽  
Ernest M. Weiler ◽  
Joseph G. Agnello
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Language Classes
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