Analyse de la production de voyelles anglaises par des apprenants francophones, l’acquisition du contraste /ɪ/–/iː/ à la lumière des k-NN

Méli, Adrien; Ballier, Nicolas

doi:10.4000/anglophonia.2109

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

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“…We also chose not to consider the /O:/ -/6/ contrast, due to its neutralisation in many varieties of English. Our English L2 learners do not have a tense vs. lax contrast in their L1, and unsurprisingly the production of these L2 sounds has been described as difficult in the literature for French L1 (Méli and Ballier 2019), Spanish L1 (Fullana Rivera and MacKay 2003), Italian L1 (Flege et al 1999) learners, as well as for learners of many other L1s such as Greek L1 (Georgiou 2022) and Catalan L1 (Cebrian 2006). We therefore consider tense and lax vowels as a potential case of category assimilation in L2 perception and production.…”

Section: Selection Of Vowel Contrastsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Can L2 Pronunciation Be Evaluated without Reference to a Native Model? Pillai Scores for the Intrinsic Evaluation of L2 Vowels

Mairano,

Santiago,

Roa

2023

Languages

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In this article, we explore the possibility of evaluating L2 pronunciation, and, more specifically, L2 vowels, without referring to a native model, i.e., intrinsically. Instead of comparing L2 vowel productions to native speakers’ productions, we use Pillai scores to measure the overlap between target vowel categories in L2 English (/iː/ — /ɪ/, /ɑː/ — /æ/, /ɜː/ — /ʌ/, /uː/ — /ʊ/) for L1 French, L1 Spanish, and L1 Italian learners (n = 40); and in L2 French (/y/ — /u/, /ø/ — /o/, /ø/ — /e/, /ɛ˜/ — /e /, /ɑ˜/ — /a/, /ɔ˜/ — /o/) for L1 English, L1 Spanish, and L1 Italian learners (n = 48). We assume that a greater amount of overlap within a contrast indicates assimilated categories in a learner’s production, whereas a smaller amount of overlap indicates the establishment of phonological categories and distinct realisations for members of the contrast. Pillai scores were significant predictors of native ratings of comprehensibility and/or nativelikeness for many of the contrasts considered. Despite some limitations and caveats, we argue that Pillai scores and similar methods for the intrinsic evaluation of L2 pronunciation can be used, (i) to avoid direct comparisons of L2 users’ performance with native monolinguals, following recent trends in SLA research; (ii) when comparable L1 data are not available; (iii) within longitudinal studies to track the progressive development of new phonological categories.

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