Home Linguistics & Semiotics Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers
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Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers

  • Robert Allen Fox and Julie Tevis McGory
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Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning
This chapter is in the book Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning

Abstract

Much research, including a wealth of studies by James Emil Flege, has examined the nature of the acquisition of English by non-native speakers. However, the vast majority of these studies have concentrated on the acquisition of Standard American English (SAE) rather than on the acquisition of a regional dialect. This paper examines whether regional dialectal differences found in the vowel systems of Southern American English (SoAE) and SAE are produced and perceived by adult Japanese speakers residing in these two areas. A production study demonstrated that the vowels produced by native English speakers from Alabama and Ohio were consistent with their dialectal region. However the two groups of native Japanese speakers produced vowels that were much more like those of the Ohio English speakers and showed few of the regional dialectal differences existing in SoAE. In a perception study, vowels produced by native Southern and Midwest English speakers were presented to two different groups of Japanese speakers living in these two areas in an identification task in order to observe the speakers’ sensitivity to these dialectal variations. Results indicated that exposure to the SoAE dialect did not improve the perception of SoAE vowels by Japanese speakers living in Alabama and that both groups of Japanese speakers performed significantly worse when identifying SoAE vowels.

Abstract

Much research, including a wealth of studies by James Emil Flege, has examined the nature of the acquisition of English by non-native speakers. However, the vast majority of these studies have concentrated on the acquisition of Standard American English (SAE) rather than on the acquisition of a regional dialect. This paper examines whether regional dialectal differences found in the vowel systems of Southern American English (SoAE) and SAE are produced and perceived by adult Japanese speakers residing in these two areas. A production study demonstrated that the vowels produced by native English speakers from Alabama and Ohio were consistent with their dialectal region. However the two groups of native Japanese speakers produced vowels that were much more like those of the Ohio English speakers and showed few of the regional dialectal differences existing in SoAE. In a perception study, vowels produced by native Southern and Midwest English speakers were presented to two different groups of Japanese speakers living in these two areas in an identification task in order to observe the speakers’ sensitivity to these dialectal variations. Results indicated that exposure to the SoAE dialect did not improve the perception of SoAE vowels by Japanese speakers living in Alabama and that both groups of Japanese speakers performed significantly worse when identifying SoAE vowels.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Dedication ix
  4. Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
  5. Acknowledgments xv
  6. Biographical Note xvii
  7. PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
  8. The study of second language speech learning 3
  9. Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
  10. Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
  11. Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
  12. You are what you eat phonetically 79
  13. PART II: The concept of foreign accent
  14. Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
  15. Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
  16. Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
  17. PART III: Consonants and vowels
  18. Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
  19. Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
  20. Cross-language consonant identification 185
  21. The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
  22. PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
  23. Music and language learning 221
  24. Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
  25. The perception of tones and phones 259
  26. Prosody in second language acquisition 281
  27. PART V: Emerging issues
  28. Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
  29. Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
  30. Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
  31. The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
  32. References 367
  33. Author Index 399
  34. Subject Index 405
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.17.13fox

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Dedication ix
  4. Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
  5. Acknowledgments xv
  6. Biographical Note xvii
  7. PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
  8. The study of second language speech learning 3
  9. Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
  10. Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
  11. Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
  12. You are what you eat phonetically 79
  13. PART II: The concept of foreign accent
  14. Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
  15. Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
  16. Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
  17. PART III: Consonants and vowels
  18. Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
  19. Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
  20. Cross-language consonant identification 185
  21. The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
  22. PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
  23. Music and language learning 221
  24. Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
  25. The perception of tones and phones 259
  26. Prosody in second language acquisition 281
  27. PART V: Emerging issues
  28. Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
  29. Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
  30. Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
  31. The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
  32. References 367
  33. Author Index 399
  34. Subject Index 405
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