Glottalization and linking in the L2 speech of Czech learners of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

Abstract

The use of linking or glottalization contributes to the characteristic sound pattern of a language, and the use of one in place of the other may affect a speaker’s comprehensibility and fluency in certain contexts. In this study, native speakers of Czech, a language that is associated with a frequent use of glottalization in vowel-initial word onsets, are examined in the second language (L2) context of three Romance languages that predominantly employ linking between words (Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). In total, 29 native speakers and 51 non-native learners were asked to read a short text in the respective language. The learners were divided into two groups based on their experience with the target language. A number of other factors were examined in a mixed-effects logistic regression model (segmental context, lexical stress, prosodic breaks, and the semantic status of the words). The main results show that, regardless of the target language, the more experienced (ME) learners displayed significantly lower rates of glottalization than the less experienced (LE) learners, but significantly higher rates than native speakers. The pedagogical implications of the results are discussed.

Creaky voice and utterance fluency measures in predicting fluency and oral proficiency of spontaneous L2 Finnish

“…This is perhaps because the use of creaky voice is often seen as an individual characteristic related to, for example, social status rather than as a feature of a language [39,40]. The few studies that have investigated creakiness in L2 focus on how well speakers can avoid creakiness in the target language [20,21]. Our results, however, suggest that using creaky voice in L2 Finnish can affect the perception of fluency and proficiency positively.…”

“…Language learners may thus be perceived as more native-like, if they manage to use creaky voice appropriately, while the absence of creaky voice can make the L2 speaker sound less fluent. However, studies on L2 and the use of creaky voice indicate that it is easier for a language learner to reduce creakiness than include it in speech [20,21], perhaps because creaky voice, in relation to modal voice, can be considered as an individual characteristic. Pillot-Loiseau et al [20] found that English learners of French -a language where creaky voice is considered unusual -reduced the use of creaky voice when speaking French compared to their L1 English, although they still used more creaky voice than native speakers of French.…”

“…French learners of English, in turn, showed no difference in their use of creaky voice between French and English. Skarnitzl et al [21] studied the use of glottalization in word linking in Czech learners of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, where creaky voice is less frequent than in Czech. They found that more experienced language learners used less creaky voice and glottal stops in linking words than less experienced language learners.…”

Word-boundary glottalization and its cognitive aspects: A reaction-time study

“…Another finding was the contribution of prosodic factors, including lexical stress (as in German) or the strength of the prosodic boundary (stronger boundaries tended to involve more glottalization). Many Romance languages -French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese -behave similarly to English in this respect (Skákal, 2013;Di Napoli, 2015;Skarnitzl, Čermák, Šturm, Obstová & Hricsina, 2021). The main strategy in these languages is to link words smoothly without glottalization (thus por_otro, que_ahora and not por[ʔ]otro etc.…”