Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language
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Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language

The acquisition of tone
  • Joan A. Sereno und Yue Wang
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Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning

Abstract

Explanations of language learning often involve appeals to distinct learning mechanisms. On one hand, learners’ innate characteristics are emphasized, with learning tied to a limited time period, a critical period, when the brain is predisposed for success in language learning. This view is often contrasted with a position emphasizing the role of the environment in shaping language learning, highlighting the contribution of feedback mechanisms and the nature of the speech input. One approach has been to examine how second languages are learned in order to directly examine change due to learning. To this end, the present paper documents the behavioral and cortical changes resulting from learning a novel language contrast, specifically Mandarin tone. Hemispheric differences in the processing of language contrasts are observed, with significant left hemispheric participation in native listeners and no hemispheric preference for non-native listeners. Additional experiments examined the training of non-native listeners, revealing that tone perception accuracy can be improved with minimal exposure. Furthermore, it can be generalized to new stimuli and talkers, retained for at least six months, and transferred to production. Native listeners identify post-training productions more accurately than pretraining productions and acoustic analyses of the post-training F0 contours show better approximation to native speaker norms. These behavioral changes due to training can also be observed cortically, with the learning of Mandarin tone contrasts associated with significant increases in activity in the traditional language areas (left hemisphere superior temporal gyrus) as well as the recruitment of neighboring neural areas. Implications for theories of language learning will be addressed.

Abstract

Explanations of language learning often involve appeals to distinct learning mechanisms. On one hand, learners’ innate characteristics are emphasized, with learning tied to a limited time period, a critical period, when the brain is predisposed for success in language learning. This view is often contrasted with a position emphasizing the role of the environment in shaping language learning, highlighting the contribution of feedback mechanisms and the nature of the speech input. One approach has been to examine how second languages are learned in order to directly examine change due to learning. To this end, the present paper documents the behavioral and cortical changes resulting from learning a novel language contrast, specifically Mandarin tone. Hemispheric differences in the processing of language contrasts are observed, with significant left hemispheric participation in native listeners and no hemispheric preference for non-native listeners. Additional experiments examined the training of non-native listeners, revealing that tone perception accuracy can be improved with minimal exposure. Furthermore, it can be generalized to new stimuli and talkers, retained for at least six months, and transferred to production. Native listeners identify post-training productions more accurately than pretraining productions and acoustic analyses of the post-training F0 contours show better approximation to native speaker norms. These behavioral changes due to training can also be observed cortically, with the learning of Mandarin tone contrasts associated with significant increases in activity in the traditional language areas (left hemisphere superior temporal gyrus) as well as the recruitment of neighboring neural areas. Implications for theories of language learning will be addressed.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  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.17.22ser

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  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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Heruntergeladen am 28.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/lllt.17.22ser/html
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