scholarly journals Syllable Structure Effects in Word Recognition by Spanish- and German-Speaking Second Language Learners of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Martinez-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Clear Effect ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
German Speaking

Previous findings in the literature point to the influence that speech perception has on word recognition. However, which specific aspects of the first (L1) and second language (L2) mapping play the most important role is still not fully understood. This study explores whether, and if so, how, L1-L2 syllable-structure differences affect word recognition. Spanish- and German-speaking English learners completed an AXB and a word-monitoring task in English that manipulated the presence of a vowel in words with /s/-initial consonant clusters—e.g., especially versus specially. The results show a clear effect of L1 on L2 learners’ perception and word recognition, with the German group outperforming the Spanish one. These results indicate that the similarity in the syllable structure between English and German fosters positive transfer in both perception and word recognition despite the inexact segmental mapping.

scholarly journals Ausspracheabweichungen im Hochdeutsch thailändischer Immigrantinnen in der Deutschschweiz

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Korakoch Attaviriyanupap
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Female Immigrants ◽  
Sound Patterns

The situations of Thais not being understood by German native speakers even though they use correct words have always been experienced. However, the pronunciation difficulties of Thai native speakers are mostly just taken for granted as typical errors, but not systematically listed and discussed. As found out in the corpus consisting of utterances in Standard German of 16 female immigrants living in German-speaking Switzerland, their pronunciation variations which differ from the norm of the target language are very systematic and predictable because they are based on Thai sound patterns. This article aims to present a contrastive analysis of German and Thai in terms of segmental elements and syllable structure and to give an overview of systematic nontarget-like pronuncation of German second language learners who are native speakers of Thai. The findings should be made useful in teaching German as second language to this group of learners.

When activity shapes the repertoire of second language learners

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 121-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolors Masats ◽  
Luci Nussbaum ◽  
Virginia Unamuno
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Pair Work

Interactionists interested in second language acquisition postulate that learners’ competences are sensitive to the context in which they are put into play. Here we explore the language practices displayed, in a bilingual socio-educational milieu, by three dyads of English learners while carrying out oral communicative pair-work. In particular, we examine the role language choice plays in each task.  A first analysis of our data indicates that the learners’ language choices seem to reveal the linguistic norms operating in the community of practice they belong to. A second analysis reveals that they exploited their linguistic repertoires according to their interpretation of the task and to their willingness to complete it in English. Thus, in the first two tasks students relied on code-switching as a mechanism to solve communication failures, whereas the third task generated the use of a mixed repertoire as a means to complete the task in the target language.

A case for 'acquisitional strategies': some methodological observations on investigation into second language learners' initial state'

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-132
Author(s):  
Margaret Polomska
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Preposition Stranding ◽  
Pilot Investigation ◽  
Individual Choices

This article reports on a pilot investigation into initial assumptions of second language learners in the methodological framework of 'acquisitional strategies'.2 Its focus is predominantly methodological, but experimental data is used to illustrate the approach. Acquisitional strategies constitute an elaboration of recent applications of the parameter setting model of grammar to the investigation of second language learners' initial state in that in this framework markedness and parameter setting interact with cognitive and psycholinguistc factors. Acquisitional strategies are understood as an identifiable, but subconscious plane according to which acquisition is handled and which is based on a subconscious assumption or a range of assumptions about the linguistic characteristics of the language under acquisition. Learners' initial state or their assumptions are seen as reflected empirically by a range of interacting formal and substantive choices, attached to a particular grammatical phenomenon. In contrast to the parameter setting model, the analysis of second language learners' initial state in the context of acquisitional strategies is essentially individual-based. An exploratory application of this framework to the investigation of second language learners' initial state has been undertaken in the context of acquisition of preposition stranding by English learners of Dutch. Preposition stranding refers to a marked phenomenon where movement extracts an NP complement of the preposition out of PP, leaving the preposition 'stranded' behind. The respective realization of this phenomenon in English and Dutch manifests interesting syntactic and morphological contrasts, which render it a valuable empirical tool for evaluation of acquisitional strategies. A tendency to statistically significant individual choices has been noted in this study. The predominant choice, manifested by the subjects, appears to be a strategy associated here with the assumption of nonequivalence of the phenomenon of preposition stranding in English and in Dutch.

Heritage Spanish Speakers’ Syllabification of -ear and -iar Verbs

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-69
Author(s):  
Mary Beaton
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Home Country ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers

Previous studies demonstrate that some aspects of the phonological grammar of heritage Spanish speakers in the United States are monolingual-like while other aspects show influence from English (Ronquest & Rao, 2018). The syllabification of vowel sequences is an interesting trait to study in the Spanish of U.S. heritage speakers due to the tendency in English phonology to separate vowels into separate syllables and the contrasting preference for diphthongs in Spanish. Studies across several language pairs have shown that second-language learners use the syllable structure of their first language in their second language, creating non-native-like patterns. We have little understanding, however, about whether heritage speakers syllabify like monolingual Spanish speakers or if they rely on the structure of the dominant language in their environment. The present study compares the syllabification judgments of 54 heritage speakers to those of 40 monolingual speakers. The results show that heritage speakers have monolingual-like syllabification intuitions for verbs ending in -ear and -iar overall, but heritage speakers who have spent less than two years in their parents’ home country syllabify differently in reading versus listening tasks. Lexical frequency did not affect the results, indicating that syllabification intuitions are robust even in unfamiliar words.

scholarly journals Effects of Cognate Status on Word Comprehension in Second Language Learners: An ERP Investigation

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1634-1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Midgley ◽  
Phillip J. Holcomb ◽  
Jonathan Grainger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
N400 Component ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
English Students ◽  
L1 English

ERPs were used to explore the different patterns of processing of cognate and noncognate words in the first (L1) and second (L2) language of a population of second language learners. L1 English students of French were presented with blocked lists of L1 and L2 words, and ERPs to cognates and noncognates were compared within each language block. For both languages, cognates had smaller amplitudes in the N400 component when compared with noncognates. L1 items that were cognates showed early differences in amplitude in the N400 epoch when compared with noncognates. L2 items showed later differences between cognates and noncognates than L1 items. The results are discussed in terms of how cognate status affects word recognition in second language learners.

acceptability of American politeness from a native and non-native comparative perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
High Level ◽  
Qualitative Exploration

This article examines the American politeness phenomena from a comparative perspective between American native speakers and intermediate- or high-level second language learners in mainland China. Both groups are invited to inspect the same ten conversations randomly elicited from the Oral Corpus of California University at San Barbara and evaluate the politeness acceptability in terms of a questionnaire. In that questionnaire, Likert scaling as a bipolar scaling method, also called summative scales, measures either positive or negative responses to a conversation in judging whether it is polite or not. With the assistance of statistical software SPSS 21, it continues to discuss the discrepant understanding of the groups towards the same politeness phenomena. It is found that all the Chinese subjects, though already intermediate- or high-level English learners for at least ten years, are somewhat weak in evaluating American politeness. There is an apparent blocking ‘plateau’ in their accurately interpreting politeness in naturally occurring American English conversations. The article then conducts a closed follow-up structured review to discuss why Chinese interviewees exhibit strikingly low scores in the questionnaire comparatively so as to complement the quantitative results of politeness judgment with an in-depth qualitative exploration. The main focus was in revealing the panoramic status of second-language learners’ politeness acceptability, their underlying explanatory motivations, as well as possible implications for pragmatic teaching

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