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Factors influencing the pronunciation of adult speakers of a foreign language

100%

Szalkowska-Kim E.

Lingua Posnaniensis

2015

vol. 56

issue 1

141-158

The present paper is an overview of selected investigations into acquisition of second language phonology (L2).1 It describes L2 phonology researchers’ attempts to determine the number, quantity, quality and roles of the factors which shape the pronunciation of L2 adult speakers, i.e. what is the influence of native language limitation, how the L2 phonology acquisition is governed by universal linguistic features, and whether adults use the same processes in acquiring the L2 that are used by children when they acquire their first language. This article will describe a number of longstanding phonetic and phonological projects whose aim was to discover patterns in the improvement of pronunciation in a second language (see research by Archibald, Broselow, Eckman, Flege, Hancin-Bhatt, Major and Weinberger, published in numerous compilations). It strives to explain the universal stages in the development of second language phonology. The main goal of the research is to assess the grammatical knowledge of the L2 learner, i.e. their competence in their interlanguage. The analyses show typological disproportions and universality of the strategies applied by the speakers in the target language. A few important hypotheses have been established (see below for their description), but it is important to note that most of the results verifying these hypotheses concern the acquisition of the English language, with a variable being the “input” languages of the speakers. Although this unilateral focus of the research projects reflects the expansion of the English language as the lingua franca of modern times, it might severely limit understanding of the important and interesting aspects of second language acquisition which structurally do not apply to that language, and are consequently overlooked.

Foreign Language Learners Acquire L2 Phonetic Detail: Goose and Foot Fronting in Non-Native English

75%

Šimáčková Š., Podlipský V. J.

Research in Language

2017

vol. 15

issue 4

385-403

Whether late learners discern fine phonetic detail in second-language (L2) input, form new phonetic categories, and realize them accurately remains a relevant question in L2 phonology, especially for foreign-language (FL) learning characterized by limited exposure to interactional native input. Our study focuses on advanced Czech learners’ production of the L2 English vowels GOOSE and FOOT. While English /u/ and /ʊ/ have been undergoing fronting, their Czech equivalents, /uː/ and /u/, are fully back. We show that although the spectral differentiation of /u/-/ʊ/ is smaller in the learners’ than in native speech, the vowels being contrasted primarily in length, even FL learners can shift their L2 sound categories towards native-like targets, or in this case, produce English /u/-/ʊ/ as fronted.

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1 Lingua Posnaniensis

1 Research in Language

1 Podlipský V. J.

1 Szalkowska-Kim E.

1 Šimáčková Š.

1 2017

1 2015

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Factors influencing the pronunciation of adult speakers of a foreign language

Foreign Language Learners Acquire L2 Phonetic Detail: Goose and Foot Fronting in Non-Native English