Laryngeal Phonology and Asymmetrical Cross-Language Phonetic Influence

Searching for common phonological space: /s/-stop clusters in L1 Polish and L2 English

“…The present findings from ST clusters differ sharply from results obtained in studies examining the acquisition of aspiration and long VOT in L2 English singleton fortis stops. Many studies with groups of L1 Polish learners that are comparable to the groups analysed here (Schwartz, 2022;Schwartz et al, 2020;Waniek-Klimczak, 2005;Wojtkowiak, 2022;Zając, 2015) have documented success in the acquisition of aspiration in L2 English. Indeed, the Schwartz (2022) study was carried out with the same speakers as those examined here.…”

“…By contrast, when listeners attend to phonetic differences between L1 and L2 sounds, a new L2 category is formed and acquisition is more successful. It appears that L1 Polish learners attend to the VOT differences in singleton stops, and aspiration is acquired successfully (Schwartz, 2022;Schwartz et al, 2020;Waniek-Klimczak, 2005;Wojtkowiak, 2022;Zając, 2015), according to the SLM's predictions. What is less clear is what predictions may be made for ST clusters, and how those predictions may relate to the L1-L2 results from this article.…”

All TRs are not created equal: L1 and L2 perception of English cluster affrication

“…As mentioned above, allophonic affrication is related to tighter phonetic synchronicity of stop-liquid clusters in English. This is in stark contrast to Polish, which shows evidence of asynchronous cluster articulation in rising sonority onsets (Dłuska 1986;Święciński 2012;Hermes et al 2017;Schwartz et al 2021).…”

“…Hermes et al (2017) gathered EMA data on rising sonority clusters (pr, pl, kr, kl) in Polish and found very large target-to-target lags. Finally, in an EMA study, Schwartz et al (2021) compared target-to-target lags with Polish-English bilinguals speaking in both their languages, and found larger lags in Polish.…”

“…This evidence consists of a range of phonological and phonetic phenomena, from distributional requirements of laryngeal features in stop-fricative clusters (see e.g. Rubach 1996) to fortis effects in the phonetics of the laryngeal contrast, including f0 raising (Schwartz et al 2019; see Kirby & Ladd (2016) for similar effects in French and Italian), and positive VOT category boundaries in the perception of the voice contrast (Keating 1979;Schwartz & Arndt 2018;Schwartz et al 2019). The perception studies cited here clearly show that a lack of voicing in Polish stops does not induce voiceless percepts, which is incompatible with the claim that voiceless stops are unmarked for laryngeal features.…”