Explaining individual variation in L2 perception: Rounded vowels in English learners of German

Mayr, Robert; Escudero, Paola

doi:10.1017/s1366728909990022

Cited by 43 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…We assume that listeners were in a Dutch monolingual perception mode because they were only addressed in Dutch during this part of the experiment, oral and written instructions were in Dutch, and the words on the screen were read aloud in Dutch before the start of the experiment. This assumption is also motivated by previous findings of monolingual perception for Dutch and English listeners, regardless of their L2 proficiencies, when presented with a monolingual task similar to the one used in the present study (Escudero & Boersma, 2002;Mayr & Escudero, 2010).…”

Section: The Dutch Categorization Taskmentioning

confidence: 78%

The perception of English front vowels by North Holland and Flemish listeners: Acoustic similarity predicts and explains cross-linguistic and L2 perception

Escudero

Simon

Mitterer

2012

Journal of Phonetics

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a b s t r a c tWe investigated whether regional differences in the native language (L1) influence the perception of second language (L2) sounds. Many cross-language and L2 perception studies have assumed that the degree of acoustic similarity between L1 and L2 sounds predicts cross-linguistic and L2 performance. The present study tests this assumption by examining the perception of the English contrast between /e/ and /ae/ in native speakers of Dutch spoken in North Holland (the Netherlands) and in East-and West-Flanders (Belgium). A Linear Discriminant Analysis on acoustic data from both dialects showed that their differences in vowel production, as reported in and Adank, van Hout, and Van de Velde (2007), should influence the perception of the L2 vowels if listeners focus on the vowels' acoustic/ auditory properties. Indeed, the results of categorization tasks with Dutch or English vowels as response options showed that the two listener groups differed as predicted by the discriminant analysis. Moreover, the results of the English categorization task revealed that both groups of Dutch listeners displayed the asymmetric pattern found in previous word recognition studies, i.e. English /ae/ was more frequently confused with English /e/ than the reverse. This suggests a strong link between previous L2 word learning results and the present L2 perceptual assimilation patterns.

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Section: The Dutch Categorization Taskmentioning

confidence: 78%

The perception of English front vowels by North Holland and Flemish listeners: Acoustic similarity predicts and explains cross-linguistic and L2 perception

Escudero

Simon

Mitterer

2012

Journal of Phonetics

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“…In that respect, Escudero and Boersma (2004) and Morrison (2009) showed that learners' initial attention to the specific dimensions that are involved in the production of an English vowel contrast, specifically their relative perception of duration versus the vowels' F1 and F2 values, affected their subsequent L2 development. Similarly, Mayr and Escudero (2010) showed that L2 contrasts that were assimilated to a single L1 category in a non-native identification task where listeners classify the L2 sounds in terms of native sounds turned out to be the most difficult ones in an L2 categorization task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…For instance, Escudero and Boersma (2004) proposed that Spanish learners of Standard Southern British and Scottish English go through different developmental paths depending on the variety of English they are learning. Interestingly, however, two recent studies have shown that these developmental paths are also learner-dependent (Morrison, 2009;Mayr and Escudero, 2010). In these studies, there was systematic variation between learners, despite the fact that they had all been exposed to a single variety of their target language.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Spanish listeners’ perception of American and Southern British English vowels

Escudero

Chládková

2010

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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L2 studies demonstrate that learners differ in their speech perception patterns. Recent explanations attribute this variation to the different initial stages with which learners start their L2 development. Spanish listeners' categorization of Standard Southern British English and American English vowels is compared. The results show that, on the basis of steady-state F1 and F2 values, listeners classify the vowels of these two English varieties differently. This finding suggests that the dialect to which learners are exposed determines their initial stage for L2 perception and the tasks they need to perform to successfully acquire a new sound system.

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“…To begin with, an investigation of the GEN 1 MUMS' L2 English stops revealed a number of learners (e.g., Colantoni, Steele & Escudero, 2015;Flege, 1995;Hansen Edwards & Zampini, 2008;Mayr & Escudero, 2010). Note, however, that the GEN 1 MUMS also showed evidence of successful acquisition.…”

Section: Acquisition Patterns: Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-generational transmission in a minority language setting: Stop consonant production by Bangladeshi heritage children and adults

Mayr

Siddika

2016

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and Objectives:The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of speech development across successive generations of heritage language users, examining how crosslinguistic, developmental and sociocultural factors affect stop consonant production. Design:To this end, we recorded Sylheti and English stop productions of two sets of Bangladeshi heritage families: (1) first-generation adult migrants from Bangladesh and their (second-generation) UK-born children, and (2) second-generation UK-born adult heritage language users and their (third-generation) UK-born children. Data and analysis:The data were analysed auditorily, using whole-word transcription, and acoustically, examining voice onset time. Comparisons were then made in both languages across the four groups of participants, and cross-linguistically. Findings:The results revealed non-native productions of English stops by the first-generation migrants but largely target-like patterns by the remaining sets of participants. The Sylheti stops exhibited incremental changes across successive generations of speakers, with the third-generation children's productions showing the greatest influence from English. Originality:This is one of few studies to examine both the host and heritage language in an ethnic minority setting, and the first to demonstrate substantial differences in heritage language accent between age-matched second-and third-generation children. The study shows that current theories of bilingual speech learning do not go far enough in explaining how speech develops in heritage language settings. Implications:These findings have important implications for the maintenance, transmission and long-term survival of heritage languages, and show that investigations need to go beyond second-generation speakers, in particular in communities that do not see a steady influx of new migrants. & Siddika (2016, accepted) 3 Mayr

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Explaining individual variation in L2 perception: Rounded vowels in English learners of German

Abstract: Most empirical research in L2 vowel perception focuses on the development of groups of learners. However, recent studies indicate that individual learners' developmental paths in L2 vowel perception may not be uniform (e.g., Escudero, 2001;Escudero and Boersma, 2004;Morrison, 2009

Cited by 43 publications

References 64 publications

The perception of English front vowels by North Holland and Flemish listeners: Acoustic similarity predicts and explains cross-linguistic and L2 perception

The perception of English front vowels by North Holland and Flemish listeners: Acoustic similarity predicts and explains cross-linguistic and L2 perception

Spanish listeners’ perception of American and Southern British English vowels

Inter-generational transmission in a minority language setting: Stop consonant production by Bangladeshi heritage children and adults

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