scholarly journals The Effects of L1 English Constraints on the Acquisition of the L2 Spanish Alveopalatal Nasal

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Stefanich ◽  
Jennifer Cabrelli
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Acoustic Quality ◽  
Potential Difficulty ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
L1 English

This study examines whether L1 English/L2 Spanish learners at different proficiency levels acquire a novel L2 phoneme, the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/. While alveolar /n/ is part of the Spanish and English inventories, /ɲ/, which consists of a tautosyllabic palatal nasal+glide element, is not. This crosslinguistic disparity presents potential difficulty for L1 English speakers due to L1 segmental and phonotactic constraints; the closest English approximation is the heterosyllabic sequence /nj/ (e.g., “canyon” /kænjn/ ['khæn.jn], cf. Spanish cañón “canyon” /kaɲon/ [ka.'ɲon]). With these crosslinguistic differences in mind, we ask: (1a) Do L1 English learners of L2 Spanish produce acoustically distinct Spanish /n/ and /ɲ/ and (1b) Does the distinction of /n/ and /ɲ/ vary by proficiency? In the case that learners distinguish /n/ and /ɲ/, the second question investigates the acoustic quality of /ɲ/ to determine (2a) if learners' L2 representation patterns with that of an L1 Spanish representation or if learners rely on an L1 representation (here, English /nj/) and (2b) if the acoustic quality of L2 Spanish /ɲ/ varies as a function of proficiency. Beginner (n = 9) and advanced (n = 8) L1 English/L2 Spanish speakers and a comparison group of 10 L1 Spanish/L2 English speakers completed delayed repetition tasks in which disyllabic nonce words were produced in a carrier phrase. English critical items contained an intervocalic heterosyllabic /nj/ sequence (e.g., ['phan.jə]); Spanish critical items consisted of items with either intervocalic onset /ɲ/ (e.g., ['xa.ɲa]) or /n/ ['xa.na]. We measured duration and formant contours of the following vocalic portion as acoustic indices of the /n/~/ɲ/ and /ɲ/ ~/nj/ distinctions. Results show that, while L2 Spanish learners produce an acoustically distinct /n/ ~ /ɲ/ contrast even at a low level of proficiency, the beginners produce an intermediate /ɲ/ that falls acoustically between their English /nj/ and the L1 Spanish /ɲ/ while the advanced learners' Spanish /ɲ/ and English /nj/ appear to be in the process of equivalence classification. We discuss these outcomes as they relate to the robustness of L1 phonological constraints in late L2 acquisition coupled with the role of perceptual cues, functional load, and questions of intelligibility.

L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Rothman
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
English Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
L1 English

The present article addresses the following question: what variables condition syntactic transfer? Evidence is provided in support of the position that third language (L3) transfer is selective, whereby, at least under certain conditions, it is driven by the typological proximity of the target L3 measured against the other previously acquired linguistic systems (cf. Rothman and Cabrelli Amaro, 2007, 2010; Rothman, 2010; Montrul et al., 2011). To show this, we compare data in the domain of adjectival interpretation between successful first language (L1) Italian learners of English as a second language (L2) at the low to intermediate proficiency level of L3 Spanish, and successful L1 English learners of L2 Spanish at the same levels for L3 Brazilian Portuguese. The data show that, irrespective of the L1 or the L2, these L3 learners demonstrate target knowledge of subtle adjectival semantic nuances obtained via noun-raising, which English lacks and the other languages share. We maintain that such knowledge is transferred to the L3 from Italian (L1) and Spanish (L2) respectively in light of important differences between the L3 learners herein compared to what is known of the L2 Spanish performance of L1 English speakers at the same level of proficiency (see, for example, Judy et al., 2008; Rothman et al., 2010). While the present data are consistent with Flynn et al.’s (2004) Cumulative Enhancement Model, we discuss why a coupling of these data with evidence from other recent L3 studies suggests necessary modifications to this model, offering in its stead the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) for multilingual transfer.

scholarly journals ‘Almost people’: A Learner Corpus Account of L2 Use and Misuse of Non-numerical Quantification

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Crosthwaite ◽  
Lavigne L.Y. Choy ◽  
Yeonsuk Bae
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Closed Class ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Noun Number ◽  
L1 English

AbstractWe present an Integrated Contrastive Model of non-numerical quantificational NPs (NNQs, i.e. ‘some people’) produced by L1 English speakers and Mandarin and Korean L2 English learners. Learner corpus data was sourced from the ICNALE (Ishikawa, 2011, 2013) across four L2 proficiency levels. An average 10% of L2 NNQs were specific to L2 varieties, including noun number mismatches (*‘many child’), omitting obligatory quantifiers after adverbs (*‘almost people’), adding unnecessary particles (*‘all of people’) and non-L1 English-like quantifier/noun agreement (*‘many water’). Significantly fewer ‘openclass’ NNQs (e.g a number of people) are produced by L2 learners, preferring ‘closed-class’ single lexical quantifiers (following L1-like use). While such production is predictable via L1 transfer, Korean L2 English learners produced significantly more L2-like NNQs at each proficiency level, which was not entirely predictable under a transfer account. We thus consider whether positive transfer of other linguistic forms (i.e. definiteness marking) aids the learnability of other L2 forms (i.e. expression of quantification).

Aspect selection in adult L2 Spanish and the Competing Systems Hypothesis

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Rothman
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Stages ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Generative System

Native-like use of preterit and imperfect morphology in all contexts by English learners of L2 Spanish is the exception rather than the rule, even for successful learners. Nevertheless, recent research has demonstrated that advanced English learners of L2 Spanish attain a native-like morphosyntactic competence for the Preterit/Imperfect contrast, as evidenced by their native-like knowledge of associated semantic entailments (Goodin-Mayeda and Rothman 2007, Montrul and Slabakova 2003, Slabakova and Montrul, 2003, Rothman and Iverson 2007). In addition to an L2 disassociation of morphology and syntax (e.g., Bruhn de Garavito 2003, Lardiere 1998, 2000, 2005, Prévost and White 1999, 2000, Schwartz 2003), I hypothesize that a system of learned pedagogical rules contributes to target-deviant L2 performance in this domain through the most advanced stages of L2 acquisition via its competition with the generative system. I call this hypothesis the Competing Systems Hypothesis. To test its predictions, I compare and contrast the use of the Preterit and Imperfect in two production tasks by native, tutored (classroom), and naturalistic learners of L2 Spanish.

Contrasting Preterite and Imperfect use among advanced L2 learners: Judgments of iterated eventualities in Spanish

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rafael Salaberry
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Classroom Environments ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Specific Component ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
L1 English

AbstractThere are numerous studies that analyze the second language (L2) acquisition of aspect (e.g., see overviews and summaries in Ayoun and Salaberry 2005; Bardovi-Harlig 2000; Labeau 2005; Salaberry, 2008; Salaberry and Shirai 2002). The present study focuses on a specific component of tense-aspect: the iteration of eventualities (iterativity and habituality) conveyed with the use of Spanish Preterite and Imperfect respectively. The analysis is based on data from monolingual Spanish speakers and L1 English speakers with near-native competence in the L2 with the use of contextualized grammaticality judgments. The findings of the study show that near-native speakers of L2 Spanish do not distinguish fine-grained representations of aspectual knowledge (iterativity versus habituality), even though they demonstrate native-like judgments with more prototypical uses of aspect. The discussion of the findings points to possible effects of mapping of meaning and form in the L2, as well as possible instructional effects paired with frequency effects prompted by classroom environments.

The role of prosodic structure in the L2 acquisition of Spanish stop lenition

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro
Keyword(s):  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Markedness Constraint ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Positional Faithfulness ◽  
L1 English

This study tests the hypothesis that late first-language English / second-language Spanish learners (L1 English / L2 Spanish learners) acquire spirantization in stages according to the prosodic hierarchy (Zampini, 1997, 1998). In Spanish, voiced stops [b d g] surface after a pause or nasal stop, and continuants [β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞] surface postvocalically, among other contexts. We adopt an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the phenomenon that assumes that postvocalic continuants surface due to the ranking of prosodic positional faithfulness constraints below a markedness constraint that prohibits stops in postvocalic position. L1 English speakers are presumed to start with a ranking in which prosodic positional faithfulness outranks the markedness constraint. In line with the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma and Hayes, 2001), gradual demotion of the relevant faithfulness constraints is predicted in L2 Spanish, extending the prosodic domain until continuants surface postvocalically across domains. A cross-section of 44 L1 English / L2 Spanish learners and a control group ( n = 5) completed a recitation task, and data were analysed acoustically for manner of articulation and degree of constriction. Results partially align with Zampini’s impressionistic data: Learners first produce underlying stops as postvocalic approximants at the onset of the syllable (word-medial position), followed by the onset of the prosodic word (word-initial position). Unlike Zampini’s findings, there is no evidence for an intermediate stage of acquisition across the boundary of a word and its clitic. Advanced L2 learners produce continuants in postvocalic position at all applicable prosodic levels, which we take to indicate acquisition of the target ranking. We also examined whether learners’ postvocalic continuants are lenited to the same degree as the control group, and whether degree of lenition changes across development. The difference in degree of lenition between controls and learners lessens at higher levels of the prosodic hierarchy as acquisition progresses, and several advanced learners produce target-like segments across prosodic levels.

The syntax–discourse interface in near-native L2 acquisition: Off-line and on-line performance

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
On Line ◽  
Discourse Interface ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
L1 English

This study investigates ultimate attainment at the syntax–discourse interface in adult second-language (L2) acquisition. In total, 91 L1 (first-language) English, L1 Dutch and L1 Russian advanced-to-near-native speakers of German and 63 native controls are tested on an acceptability judgement task and an on-line self-paced reading task. These centre on discourse-related word order optionality in German. Results indicate that convergence at the syntax–discourse interface is in principle possible in adult L2 acquisition, both in off-line knowledge and on-line processing, even for L1 English speakers, whose L1 does not correspond to L2 German in discourse-to-syntax mappings. At the same time, non-convergence of the L1 Dutch groups and differences in the L2 groups' performance between tasks suggest that asymmetries in L1–L2 discourse configurations and computational difficulties in mapping discourse onto syntax constrain L2 performance.

Interfaces in the interpretation of mood alternation in L2 Spanish

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 173-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife K. Ahern ◽  
José Amenós-Pons ◽  
Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Similar Pattern ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Current Feature ◽  
Degree Of Similarity ◽  
Mood Choice

In this paper, we present the results of one written task testing the interpretation of mood choice in if-conditional constructions in L2 Spanish: a linguistic task of conditional utterances containing both regular and irregular indicative and subjunctive forms was completed by 48 L1 French and 40 L1 English speakers, and by an L1 Spanish control group (n = 35). Results show a similar pattern in the answers of both experimental groups despite the varying degree of similarity and disparity among the languages. We adopt a cognitive pragmatic perspective for the analysis of the results in connection with the various kinds of effects created by mood alternation in the constructions studied. Furthermore, in relation to current SLA debates (Lardiere 2008, 2009), our findings demonstrate that feature re-assembly in L2 Spanish is not trouble-free, as simple current feature accounts would advocate, even if those features exist in the learners’ L1.

scholarly journals Interrelationships between Time and Space in English and French discourse

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie-Claude Demagny
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Voluntary Motion ◽  
L1 English

This paper explores the expression of temporal boundaries in narrative discourse drawing on cartoon-elicited productions which narrate caused and/or voluntary motion events involving four types of paths. We hypothesise that the way speakers express temporal boundaries depends on the “framing” of their first language (Talmy 2000). We therefore examine productions by speakers of L1 French (V-framed language), L1 English (S-framed) and English learners of L2 French at three levels of proficiency. Productions may include a Setting section and a Main event. Findings show that each speaker group has its own mode of expressing temporal and spatial boundaries. The choice in L1 French depends on Path type, but not in L1 English. English learners of L2 French pattern more like L1 French speakers for verbal morphology, but their expression of space is nearly similar to their L1 English. The discussion highlights implications of this linguistic framing type for L2 acquisition.

scholarly journals Limitations of the influence of English phonetics and phonology on L2 Spanish rhotics

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kevin Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Multiple Linear Regressions ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Paired Samples ◽  
Spanish Study ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Linear Regressions

This study investigates L2 Spanish rhotic production in intermediate learners of Spanish, specifically addressing the duration of the influence of L1 English rhotic articulations and a phonetic environment involving English taps on the acquisition of Spanish taps and trills that Olsen (2012) found. Results from multiple linear regressions involving thirty-five students in Spanish foreign language classes show that the effect of English rhotic articulations evident in beginners has disappeared after four semesters of Spanish study. However, results from paired samples t-tests show that these more advanced learners produced accurate taps significantly more in words containing phonetic environments that produce taps in English. This effect is taken as evidence that L1 phonetic influences have a shorter duration on L2 production than do L1 phonological influences. These results provide insights into L2 rhotic acquisition which Spanish educators and students can use to formulate reasonable pronunciation expectations. 

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