Music, song and speech
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Markus Christiner
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that musical aptitude positively influences language acquisition processes. The underlying mechanisms of why and how musical talent heightens one’s ability to detect, imitate and memorize foreign languages, however, have not yet been fully understood. We set out to test vocalists’ ability to imitate speech. Findings indicated that singing capacity is a good predictor for accent imitation and a better predictor of than instrument playing and musical expertise measured perceptually. As we wanted to uncover whether there is a difference between instrumentalists’ and vocalists’ accent imitation abilities, we recruited vocalists, instrumentalists and non-singers/non-musicians and compared their accent imitation skills directly. As expected, vocalists outperformed instrumentalists and non-musicians/non-singers significantly, while the perceptual musicality test showed no significant difference between vocalists and instrumentalists.
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that musical aptitude positively influences language acquisition processes. The underlying mechanisms of why and how musical talent heightens one’s ability to detect, imitate and memorize foreign languages, however, have not yet been fully understood. We set out to test vocalists’ ability to imitate speech. Findings indicated that singing capacity is a good predictor for accent imitation and a better predictor of than instrument playing and musical expertise measured perceptually. As we wanted to uncover whether there is a difference between instrumentalists’ and vocalists’ accent imitation abilities, we recruited vocalists, instrumentalists and non-singers/non-musicians and compared their accent imitation skills directly. As expected, vocalists outperformed instrumentalists and non-musicians/non-singers significantly, while the perceptual musicality test showed no significant difference between vocalists and instrumentalists.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Introduction. Cognitive individual differences in second language learning and processing 1
-
Part 1. Theoretical and methodological issues
- Foreign language aptitude, acquisitional sequences, and psycholinguistic processes 17
- Miniature natural language learning in L2 acquisition research 41
- Working memory, language processing, and implications of malleability for second language acquisition 69
- Methodological implications of working memory tasks for L2 processing research 89
- Analyzing individual differences in second language research 105
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Part 2. Empirical studies
- Music, song and speech 131
- An empirical study of working memory, personality, and second language construction learning 157
- Elicited imitation as a measure of implicit L2 knowledge 185
- Working memory and L2 English speakers’ primed and subsequent production of passives 205
- Interrelationships among L2 linguistic knowledge, working memory functions, and L2 reading 223
- Executive control and phonological processing in language acquisition 249
- Corrective feedback and working memory capacity 279
- The interaction between feedback exposure condition and phonetic coding ability 303
- The role of explicit language aptitude in implicit, explicit, and mixed feedback conditions 327
- Index 351
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Introduction. Cognitive individual differences in second language learning and processing 1
-
Part 1. Theoretical and methodological issues
- Foreign language aptitude, acquisitional sequences, and psycholinguistic processes 17
- Miniature natural language learning in L2 acquisition research 41
- Working memory, language processing, and implications of malleability for second language acquisition 69
- Methodological implications of working memory tasks for L2 processing research 89
- Analyzing individual differences in second language research 105
-
Part 2. Empirical studies
- Music, song and speech 131
- An empirical study of working memory, personality, and second language construction learning 157
- Elicited imitation as a measure of implicit L2 knowledge 185
- Working memory and L2 English speakers’ primed and subsequent production of passives 205
- Interrelationships among L2 linguistic knowledge, working memory functions, and L2 reading 223
- Executive control and phonological processing in language acquisition 249
- Corrective feedback and working memory capacity 279
- The interaction between feedback exposure condition and phonetic coding ability 303
- The role of explicit language aptitude in implicit, explicit, and mixed feedback conditions 327
- Index 351
