Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language
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David Birdsong
Abstract
This experimental study examines the pronunciation of a group of Anglophone late learners of French as a second language. Following Flege’s SLM, recorded read-alouds of word lists are subjected to acoustical analysis at the segmental level (vowel duration and VOT). At the global level of analysis, recorded readalouds of prose paragraphs are judged by native speakers. Nativelikeness is observed among some subjects across all tasks and levels of analysis. These results suggest that nativelike pronunciation is not out of the grasp of late L2 learners. We also examine the relationship between results at the segmental and global levels of analysis; some evidence suggests that performance at the global level predicts performance at the segmental level, but not vice versa. Also considered are the contributions to nativelike pronunciation of biographical factors such as motivation and phonetic training.
Abstract
This experimental study examines the pronunciation of a group of Anglophone late learners of French as a second language. Following Flege’s SLM, recorded read-alouds of word lists are subjected to acoustical analysis at the segmental level (vowel duration and VOT). At the global level of analysis, recorded readalouds of prose paragraphs are judged by native speakers. Nativelikeness is observed among some subjects across all tasks and levels of analysis. These results suggest that nativelike pronunciation is not out of the grasp of late L2 learners. We also examine the relationship between results at the segmental and global levels of analysis; some evidence suggests that performance at the global level predicts performance at the segmental level, but not vice versa. Also considered are the contributions to nativelike pronunciation of biographical factors such as motivation and phonetic training.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication ix
- Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
- Acknowledgments xv
- Biographical Note xvii
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PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
- The study of second language speech learning 3
- Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
- Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
- Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
- You are what you eat phonetically 79
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PART II: The concept of foreign accent
- Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
- Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
- Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
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PART III: Consonants and vowels
- Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
- Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
- Cross-language consonant identification 185
- The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
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PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
- Music and language learning 221
- Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
- The perception of tones and phones 259
- Prosody in second language acquisition 281
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PART V: Emerging issues
- Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
- Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
- Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
- The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
- References 367
- Author Index 399
- Subject Index 405
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication ix
- Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
- Acknowledgments xv
- Biographical Note xvii
-
PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
- The study of second language speech learning 3
- Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
- Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
- Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
- You are what you eat phonetically 79
-
PART II: The concept of foreign accent
- Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
- Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
- Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
-
PART III: Consonants and vowels
- Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
- Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
- Cross-language consonant identification 185
- The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
-
PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
- Music and language learning 221
- Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
- The perception of tones and phones 259
- Prosody in second language acquisition 281
-
PART V: Emerging issues
- Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
- Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
- Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
- The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
- References 367
- Author Index 399
- Subject Index 405
