Skip to main content
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Everyone Is Different, So Everyone Is the Same – Intra-individual Variation in Second Language Acquisition

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Intra-individual Variation in Language
This chapter is in the book Intra-individual Variation in Language

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of production data ob - tained from twelve female native Spanish learners of L2 German recorded during a collaborative map-task in order to investigate phonetic accommodation. Phonetic accommodation is a process by which speakers increasingly select variants produced by an interlocutor in conversation. The focus of the study is on the realisation of neutralisation of final voicing contrast in plosives, a process found in German but not in Spanish according to existing contrastive analysis. Two main objectives were pursued in the study: (i) whether phonetic accommodation varies depending on the proficiency level of the participants as well as that of the interlocutor and (ii) whether individual subsegmental characteristics are affected differently. The findings show that both proficiency level and interlocutor influence the degree of accommodation. The findings also reveal that not all analysed subsegmental cues show comparable accommodation effects, and that the realisation of individual subphonemic cues leads to a high degree of inter- and intra-speaker variation. The greatest accommodation effects were found in conversations of highly proficient, non-native participants with a native speaker of German but also with a highly proficient non-native interlocutor. Participants with lower proficiency levels showed comparatively fewer accommodation effects. The degree of intra-individual variation seems to vary depending on proficiency level, in that the distribution of target-like and non-target-like realisations differs between L2 speakers of high and low proficiency. However, both target-like and non-targetlike realisations occur in the speech samples of all L2 speakers.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of production data ob - tained from twelve female native Spanish learners of L2 German recorded during a collaborative map-task in order to investigate phonetic accommodation. Phonetic accommodation is a process by which speakers increasingly select variants produced by an interlocutor in conversation. The focus of the study is on the realisation of neutralisation of final voicing contrast in plosives, a process found in German but not in Spanish according to existing contrastive analysis. Two main objectives were pursued in the study: (i) whether phonetic accommodation varies depending on the proficiency level of the participants as well as that of the interlocutor and (ii) whether individual subsegmental characteristics are affected differently. The findings show that both proficiency level and interlocutor influence the degree of accommodation. The findings also reveal that not all analysed subsegmental cues show comparable accommodation effects, and that the realisation of individual subphonemic cues leads to a high degree of inter- and intra-speaker variation. The greatest accommodation effects were found in conversations of highly proficient, non-native participants with a native speaker of German but also with a highly proficient non-native interlocutor. Participants with lower proficiency levels showed comparatively fewer accommodation effects. The degree of intra-individual variation seems to vary depending on proficiency level, in that the distribution of target-like and non-target-like realisations differs between L2 speakers of high and low proficiency. However, both target-like and non-targetlike realisations occur in the speech samples of all L2 speakers.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. What Is Intra-individual Variation in Language? 9
  5. Part I: Phonetic-phonological dimension
  6. Everyone Is Different, So Everyone Is the Same – Intra-individual Variation in Second Language Acquisition 47
  7. Situational Effects on Intra-individual Variation in German – Reflexes of Middle High German ei in Austrian Speech Repertoires 87
  8. Linguistic, Social, and Individual Factors Constraining Variation in Spoken Swiss Standard German 127
  9. Part II: Syntactic-morphological dimension
  10. Intra-individual Variation in Nominal Inflection: Analyses of Directly Elicited Data of the Bavarian Linguistic Atlas 177
  11. Intra-individual Variation in Morphosyntax: A Constraint-based Perspective 207
  12. Inter- and Intra-individual Variation in Luxembourgish. A Quantitative Analysis of Crowd-sourced Speech Data 243
  13. Part III: Historical dimension
  14. Of Zibele and Bölle: Patterns of Language Variation in the Swiss Language Island New Glarus (North America) 283
  15. Intra-individual Variation in Nineteenth-century Private Letters 315
  16. Intra-individual Variation from a Historical Perspective: Towards a Usage-based Model of Constructional Change and Variation 347
  17. How many Natives with how many Systems? Intra-individual Variation and the Threshold of Multilingualism in Standard German Speakers 379
  18. Index 407
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110743036-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. What Is Intra-individual Variation in Language? 9
  5. Part I: Phonetic-phonological dimension
  6. Everyone Is Different, So Everyone Is the Same – Intra-individual Variation in Second Language Acquisition 47
  7. Situational Effects on Intra-individual Variation in German – Reflexes of Middle High German ei in Austrian Speech Repertoires 87
  8. Linguistic, Social, and Individual Factors Constraining Variation in Spoken Swiss Standard German 127
  9. Part II: Syntactic-morphological dimension
  10. Intra-individual Variation in Nominal Inflection: Analyses of Directly Elicited Data of the Bavarian Linguistic Atlas 177
  11. Intra-individual Variation in Morphosyntax: A Constraint-based Perspective 207
  12. Inter- and Intra-individual Variation in Luxembourgish. A Quantitative Analysis of Crowd-sourced Speech Data 243
  13. Part III: Historical dimension
  14. Of Zibele and Bölle: Patterns of Language Variation in the Swiss Language Island New Glarus (North America) 283
  15. Intra-individual Variation in Nineteenth-century Private Letters 315
  16. Intra-individual Variation from a Historical Perspective: Towards a Usage-based Model of Constructional Change and Variation 347
  17. How many Natives with how many Systems? Intra-individual Variation and the Threshold of Multilingualism in Standard German Speakers 379
  18. Index 407
Downloaded on 6.5.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110743036-003/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button