Flege, J. E., Schirru, C., & MacKay, I. R. A. (2003) Interaction between the Native and Second Language Phonetic Subsystems. Speech Communication, 40, 467–491.
The Speech Learning Model (SLM) proposed two mechanisms that underlie the phonetic capacity of L2 speakers. Phonetic category assimilation describes the phenomenon that when an L2 sound cannot be distinguished from an L1 sound, the two sounds merge. On the other hand, phonetic category dissimilation described that when an L1 sound and an L2 sound can be distinguished from each other, a new category will not only be established, but also realized in a direction that is more extreme in order for maximal distinction. Accordingly, phonetic category assimilation is usually found in late L2 speakers, whereas phonetic category dissimilation usually happens in early L2 speakers. Following the logic, phonetic category assimilation would predict that late L2 speakers’ production of L2 sounds deviates from native speakers’ production, and phonetic category dissimilation would predict that early L2 speakers’ production resembles that of native speakers’, but to a more extreme extent. This study aims to test these two SLM predictions by examining vowel production of native Italian speakers who acquire English as their L2.
Four groups of Italian-English bilinguals were recruited, differing in their age of arrival (early/late) and use of Italian (high/low). A group of English native speakers was also included for the purpose of comparison. Their production of 11 English vowels was recorded and judged by another group of English native speakers. Results showed that both age of arrival and L1 use played a role. Early bilinguals produced more accurate English vowels and bilinguals of low Italian use produced vowels more accurately than those of high Italian use. In addition, the English vowel /eɪ/ and the Italian /e/ were acoustically compared. It was found that Italian /e/ exhibited less movement than English /eɪ/. Acoustic measurements on the production of English /eɪ/ of bilinguals showed comparable results with previous judgment tests. In addition, it further confirmed the SLM predictions. Specifically, late bilinguals produced /eɪ/ with much smaller movements, resembling the Italian /e/. On the other hand, early bilinguals produced /eɪ/ with even bigger movements than English native speakers. Based on these results, the mechanisms of both phonetic category assimilation and dissimilation were verified. However, it was noted that overshooting of early bilinguals’ production could be a phenomenon of hypercorrection. In this regard, further research is required.
No comments:
Post a Comment