Desenvolvimento fonético-fonológico bi/multilíngue e atenção – Questões teóricas abordadas no Speech Learning Model (SLM/SLM-r) e desafios futuros para a pesquisa em segunda língua (L2)

Neste artigo, propomos uma discussão teórica sobre as possíveis implicações atencionais no desenvolvimento fonético-fonológico bi/multilíngue. Para isso, partimos dos apontamentos feitos no Speech Learning Model, ao longo dos anos (FLEGE, 1995, 2003; FLEGE; BOHN, 2021), em relação ao componente cognitivo atencional. Discutiremos as seguintes questões latentes sobre atenção, não aprofundadas no SLM/SLM-r: (i) a possível relação direta entre proficiência e refinamento de categorias fonético-fonológicas; (ii) a conjugação entre percepção-produção, a qual perpassa, inevitavelmente, um contínuo de processamento entre armazenamento e recuperação de informações psico-acústicas; e (iii) o impacto metodológico de se considerar o construto ‘atenção’, associado ao SLM/SLM-r, nas coletas de dados de produção bilíngue. Tais lacunas psico-cognitivas dentro do modelo e, de forma geral, dentro da área de pesquisa, constituem desafios teóricos e metodológicos nos estudos de desenvolvimento bi/multilíngue, ainda mais numa perspectiva psicolinguística. Dessa forma, abrir o perímetro investigativo para questões mais amplas que envolvem a cognição bi/multilíngue pode contribuir, teórica e metodologicamente, para um maior entendimento do complexo processo de ensino-aprendizagem do componente fonético-fonológico de L2.

Mispronunciation and Substitution of Mid-high Front and Back Hausa Vowels by Yorùbá Native Speakers

The mid short vowels: /e/ and /o/ are among the vowels shared between Hausa and Yorùbá but differ in Hausa mid-high long, front and back vowels: /e:/ and /o:/. The phonemic differences in the two languages have caused learning difficulties among the Yorùbá native speakers to achieve their second language learning desire and competence. Yorùbá-Hausa learners mispronounce certain disyllabic Hausa words due to the substitution of vowels in the first and second syllables. Thus, both lexical and grammatical meanings of the Hausa words are affected. This study examined the production of the 12 Hausa vowels by level 1 and level 3 students who were learning Hausa as a second language to determine if there was a significant difference in how level 1 and level 3 students pronounced the short and long mid-high, front and back Hausa vowels. 88 Yorùbá native speakers were recruited using purposive sampling. Twenty-four different wordlists extracted from Bargery's (1934) Hausa-English dictionary and prepared in carrier phrases were audio-recorded. It was a mixed-method, and the results were discussed within the theoretical framework of Flege and Bohn's (2020) Revised Speech Learning Model and Corder's (1967) 'Error Analysis Model'. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test revealed that participants in level 1 generally performed lower than level 3 participants in the pronunciation of mid-Hausa vowels due to substitutions. Such errors have pedagogical implication in learning Hausa as a second language, and if not addressed accordingly, the standard of Hausa will continue to fall at an undesirable and alarming rate.

Interplay between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and L2 production

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and second language (L2) production. To this purpose, Egyptian Arabic learners of Greek in Cyprus who took part in a previous cross-linguistic perceptual study, completed a production test with respect to the Cypriot Greek vowels. The findings showed that perceived cross-linguistic similarity was linked with L2 production since along with the consideration of first language (L1)-L2 acoustic differences, it predicted most of the L2 vowel productions. Also, many L2 vowels were considerably longer than the corresponding L1 vowels. This can be interpreted as an L1 transfer since Egyptian Arabic vowels are longer in duration than the Cypriot Greek vowels. An interesting finding was that the production of the L2 vowels had only partial overlap with the productions of the L1 vowels, a finding that provides support for the hypotheses of the Speech Learning Model.

CAN AUDIO-VISUAL TRAINING EQUALLY AFFECT PHONEMIC AND PHONETIC CONTRASTS? AN EXAMPLE OF L2 FRICATIVE PRODUCTION

The paper explores the effect of audio-visual perceptual training on Serbian EFL learners’ production of novel phonemic and phonetic contrasts in L2, specifically focused on fricatives. Hence, the paper aims at discovering whether audio-visual training has equal effects at phonemic and phonetic levels, and also, whether the effect is the same at two different age/proficiency levels, 6th grade primary and 4th grade secondary school. In order to explore the phonemic level we concentrated on interdental fricatives, and for the phonetic level differences sibilant contrasts were included, following the predictions of the Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best 1994) and Speech Learning Model (Flege 1995). The testing for relevant acoustic information was per- formed prior to and immediately following the experimental period, when all the participants were recorded pronouncing a prepared sentence list containing target sounds. It consisted of measuring spectral moments, frication duration and comparison of spectrograms. The results of the audio-visual phonetic training proved especially beneficial for phonemic contrasts, i.e. interdental fricatives for both levels of age/proficiency, while sibilant contrasts showed insignificant progress. The age/proficiency level did not appear to be a significant predictor of the effect of audio-visual training. Along with the empirical results, the paper likewise presents pedagogical implications important for pronunciation teaching and highlights the significance of phonetic training in the Serbian EFL context in particular.

Hong Kong Cantonese university students’ tonal errors in Mandarin and their relation to L1 influence

After the change of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to People Republic of China, Mandarin has become increasingly important in Hong Kong society. However, it is observed that many native Cantonese speakers have problems mastering Mandarin tones despite the less complex tonal system. This study attempts to investigate the Mandarin tonal error patterns made by Hong Kong learners and the possible causes for these errors. A reading aloud test and a follow-up interview were designed to collect the data. The findings of the study show that a large number of students were confused about Mandarin tones and found them difficult to master, especially between tone 1 and tone 4 and tone 2 and tone 3. All the participants made these two mistakes in the test. This study hypothesizes that L1 negative transfer is the key factor that helps Cantonese speaking learners’ ability to establish a new tone in the L2. However, the reason for participants’ tonal mistakes is not due to one single cause; instead, the errors are caused by multiple factors, including lack of tonal knowledge, incomplete tonal acquisition, and tonal errors explained by the Speech Learning Model.

Cross-linguistic similarity in L2 speech learning: Evidence from the acquisition of Russian stop contrasts by Mandarin speakers

This study investigated the role of cross-linguistic similarity in the acquisition of Russian initial stop contrasts by Chinese learners, addressing two specific research questions: (1) How similar are Russian voiced stops to Mandarin stops for Chinese learners? (2) How can the speech learning model (SLM) be applied to account for the acquisition of Russian initial stop contrasts by Chinese learners? Regarding the first question, a hypothesis was proposed that Russian voiced stops could be regarded as dissimilar ‘new’ sounds by Chinese learners, as judged by three commonly adopted methods: IPA comparison, acoustic difference, and feature redeployment. The results of the perceptual assimilation task, however, disconfirmed this hypothesis, as Russian voiced stops were perceived as being highly similar to the sounds of Mandarin voiceless unaspirated stops. According to SLM, perceptually similar second language (L2) sounds are difficult to acquire; hence, a corresponding hypothesis was advanced in relation to the second question; namely, that the acquisition of Russian initial stop contrasts could be challenging for Chinese learners. This hypothesis was supported by the results of the perceptual discrimination and the production tests. These findings corroborated SLM regarding the difficulty in acquiring L2 sounds that are perceptually similar to their first language (L1) counterparts, while posing challenges to the hypothesis that Russian voiced stops could be dissimilar ‘new’ sounds for Chinese learners, as predicted by the three methods. The results indicated that perceived cross-linguistic similarity plays a key role in L2 phonetic acquisition. However, the degree of perceived similarity cannot always be accurately deduced solely through the three methods, at least not in the case of stops.

English and Portuguese consonant clusters: contrasts and challenges

ABSTRACT Consonant clusters occur both in Portuguese and English. However, clusters are more productive in English than in Portuguese and there are sequences which are only found in English.This study focuses on the contrasts between American English and Brazilian Portuguese consonant clusters and on three strategies Brazilian learners tend to apply when producing them: adding the high front vowel (epenthesis) between the consonants in the clusters, discarding consonants, or introducing phonetic changes. The relevance of introducing English clusters to Brazilian learners of English is pointed out and discussed under the framework of the Speech Learning Model (SLM).

Japanese co-occurrence restrictions influence second language perception

ABSTRACTMost current models of nonnative speech perception (e.g., extended perceptual assimilation model, PAM-L2, Best & Tyler, 2007; speech learning model, Flege, 1995; native language magnet model, Kuhl, 1993) base their predictions on the native/nonnative status of individual phonetic/phonological segments. This paper demonstrates that the phonotactic properties of Japanese influence the perception of natively contrasting consonants and suggests that phonotactic influence must be formally incorporated in these models. We first propose that by extending the perceptual categories outlined in PAM-L2 to incorporate sequences of sounds, we can account for the effects of differences in native and nonnative phonotactics on nonnative and cross-language segmental perception. In addition, we test predictions based on such an extension in two perceptual experiments. In Experiment 1, Japanese listeners categorized and rated vowel–consonant–vowel strings in combinations that either obeyed or violated Japanese phonotactics. The participants categorized phonotactically illegal strings to the perceptually nearest (legal) categories. In Experiment 2, participants discriminated the same strings in AXB discrimination tests. Our results show that Japanese listeners are more accurate and have faster response times when discriminating between legal strings than between legal and illegal strings. These findings expose serious shortcomings in currently accepted nonnative perception models, which offer no framework for the influence of native language phonotactics.